Former Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan much sought after now
Lucknow: With the fast approaching date of March 10 when results of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls would be declared, a sudden buzz in Uttar Pradesh bureaucracy seems to have emerged about former bureaucrat and chief secretary Alok Ranjan.
Many senior officers have started meeting Alok Ranjan, a 1987 batch retired IAS officer of UP cadre who was the Chief Secretary of UP for more than 2 years in the previous Akhilesh Yadav-led government.
After retiring on July 01, 2016, Ranjan was appointed by then Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav as his chief advisor and chairman of UPSIDC. He was considered to be Yadav’s most trusted officer.
The Samajwadi Party’s manifesto for this assembly elections has reportedly been prepared by the retired Chief Secretary of UP. For the last 10 years Alok Ranjan has been so close to SP chief Akhilesh Yadav that he has prepared the entire draft of the election manifesto and has once again shown his strong hold on and friendship with the former chief minister at the time of elections.
As the architect of Akhilesh Yadav’s manifesto, Ranjan prepared the formula of 300 units of free electricity, besides bringing back the old pension scheme.
The bureaucrats of Uttar Pradesh are adept at catching the pulse of elections and in view of the close relations of Alok Ranjan with Akhilesh Yadav, many bureaucrats have started getting in touch with the retired IAS officer so as to boost their chances in case the SP returns to power.
Nothing can be said about the politics of the state, but if after March 10 the SP does make a comeback, cordial relations with Alok Ranjan could prove to be helpful for many bureaucrats.
Moreover, these days in UP the trend of bureaucrats venturing into politics post retirement or even by taking voluntary retirement has been on the rise.
