Lucknow: Former IAS officer Arvind Kumar Sharma, considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was on Saturday named U.P BJP's Vice President amid reports of dissent in Uttar Pradesh. The name of the retired bureaucrat who is also a BJP MLC from Mau, had been doing the rounds in the political corridors of U.P along with rumors over a possible cabinet reshuffle ahead of 2022 state assembly polls.

Sharma had joined PM Modi as secretary in October 2001 when the former took over as the Gujarat CM. He continued to work with him in the PMO from 2014 onward as well and took over as the MSME secretary in April 2020.

Sharma is known for delivering time-bound results. He earned PM Modi's trust as the secretary in his CMO by successfully handing Vibrant Gujarat campaign to get investment to the state. He served in PMO for six years

Sharma’s announcement comes a day after UP BJP Chief Swatantra Dev Singh went to Delhi and met some senior leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

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