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Lucknow: Former IAS officer Arvind Kumar Sharma — a close aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for two decades who took voluntary retirement this week — is set to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday at the party office in Lucknow.
Sharma was serving as the secretary in the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the Modi government, after his six-year stint in the Prime Minister’s Office.
BJP Uttar Pradesh unit officials confirmed the development to ThePrint.
“He would be joining the party at the state party office in Lucknow. It’s a big joining. We are happy to have him in our party. He has immense experience in civil services, definitely he will add huge potential to the party,” said state spokesperson Naveen Srivastava.
Chandramohan, BJP state secretary in UP, said, “We have no idea as of today what responsibility he will get, the party High Command will decide about it. But he is joining the party on Thursday. Other information I can’t reveal right now.”
Sharma may get key role in Yogi cabinet
According to sources in the party, Arvind Kumar Sharma could get an MLC ticket for the soon to be held polls. He could then be given an important position in UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s cabinet in a reshuffle.
The Election Commission has issued the dates for election on 12 MLC seats in the state. The nomination process for these seats started from 11 January and will run till 18 January. The voting will be held on 28 January.
The BJP is expected to win at least 10 out of these 12 seats, which include the ones vacated by Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, party state president Swatantra Dev Singh and vice president Laxman Prasad Acharya.
While Dinesh Sharma and Singh are likely to get an MLC ticket again, A.K. Sharma’s entry has created a buzz in the UP political circles.
“Cabinet reshuffle will happen in UP soon. A.K. Sharma may get an important position in the cabinet… he could even become deputy CM. Sharma belongs to the Bhumihar community and his inclusion will give a strong message in Purvanchal,” said a state BJP official who didn’t wish to be named.
Modi’s close aide from two decades
Sharma, who hails from Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh, is a 1988 batch IAS officer from the Gujarat cadre. He has been associated with PM Modi since the latter became the chief minister of Gujarat in 2001.
During Modi’s years in Gujarat, the ex-IAS officer was considered his key man. In that period, Sharma also held the position of Gujarat Infrastructure Development Board (GIDB) chief executive, a position that earned him the reputation of an infrastructure expert.
He joined the PMO as a joint secretary in 2014, and was elevated to the additional secretary rank in 2017.
Senior civil servants told ThePrint earlier that his early, voluntary retirement came as a bit of a surprise to them. But he now seems set to play an important role for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh politics.
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London, Aug 5 (PTI): An Indian-origin taxi driver based in Ireland for over 23 years has become the latest to be targeted in an unprovoked attack in the capital Dublin, with local police (Gardai) launching an investigation into the violent assault.
Lakhvir Singh, in his 40s, told local media that he picked up two young men in their 20s on Friday night and dropped them at Poppintree, in the Ballymun suburb of Dublin.
Upon arriving at the destination, the men are said to have opened the vehicle door and struck him twice on the head with a bottle. As the suspects fled, they reportedly shouted: "Go back to your own country".
"In 10 years I've never seen anything like this happen," Singh told ‘Dublin Live’.
"I'm really scared now and I'm off the road at the moment. It will be very hard to go back. My children are really scared," he said.
A Dublin police spokesperson said Singh was taken to the city's Beaumont Hospital with injuries determined as not life-threatening.
"Gardaí are investigating an assault reported to have occurred in Poppintree, Ballymun, Dublin 11 at approximately 11:45 pm on Friday, 1st August 2025. A man, aged in his 40s, was brought to Beaumont Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injury. Investigations are ongoing," the spokesperson said.
The incident followed an Indian Embassy advisory, also issued on Friday, expressing safety concerns following recent attacks in and around the capital Dublin and urging Indian citizens to take safety precautions.
"There has been an increase in the instances of physical attacks reported against Indian citizens in Ireland recently,” states the advisory.
“The embassy is in touch with the authorities concerned in Ireland in this regard. At the same time, all Indian citizens in Ireland are advised to take reasonable precautions for their personal security and avoid deserted areas, especially at odd hours," the statement reads, adding emergency embassy contact details as 0899423734 and cons.dublin@mea.gov.in.
It came in the wake of a brutal attack on a 40-year-old Indian man at Parkhill Road in the Tallaght suburb of Dublin on July 19, described as “mindless, racist violence” by locals.
The Gardai had opened an investigation into the case and Indian Ambassador to Ireland Akhilesh Mishra was among those who took to social media to express shock over the attack.
“Regarding the recent incident of physical attack on an Indian national that happened in Tallaght, Dublin, the embassy is in touch with the victim and his family. All the requisite assistance is being offered. The embassy is also in touch with the relevant Irish authorities in this regard,” the embassy said in a social media post days after the incident.
A Stand Against Racism protest was also held by the local community in condemnation of what was described as a "vicious racist attack" and to express solidarity with migrants.
Last week, Dr Santosh Yadav took to LinkedIn to post details of a “brutal, unprovoked racist attack”.
The entrepreneur and AI expert stressed that it was not an isolated incident and called for “concrete measures” from the governments of Ireland and India to ensure Indians feel safe to walk the streets of Dublin.
His post revealed that a group of six teenagers attacked him from behind as he walked to his apartment in Dublin.
“This is not an isolated incident. Racist attacks on Indian men and other minorities are surging across Dublin — on buses, in housing estates, and on public streets. Yet, the government is silent. There is no action being taken against these perpetrators. They run free and are emboldened to attack again,” reads Yadav's post.
Fine Gael party Councillor for Tallaght South, Baby Pereppadan, was among those who expressed concern following last month’s attack.
“People need to understand that many Indian people moving to Ireland are here on work permits, to study and work in the healthcare sector or in IT and so on, providing critical skills,” he said.
Another violent anti-Indian attack in Ireland
— Journalist V (@OnTheNewsBeat) August 5, 2025
Taxi driver Lakhvir Singh was attacked with glass bottles while doing his job pic.twitter.com/mtkwhLWISx