Former IAS officer close to Nitish Kumar joins JD(U)

Welcoming the ex-bureaucrat into the party, Jha said, “Our party is seriously thinking in terms of expanding its base beyond Bihar. We are sure that Verma’s rich administrative experience will be of great use to the JD(U).” Speaking on the occasion, Verma, who belongs to Kumar’s home district of Nalanda, lavished praise on his benefactor, saying the longest serving CM of Bihar had an “extraordinary persona”, was an epitome of “true socialism” and stood out for delivering on promises, “a rarity among politicians”.

An IIT Delhi alumnus, Verma was assigned the Odisha cadre upon joining the IAS, and “after serving there for 12 years, I sought a deputation to my home state because of my father’s ill health”.

“I am grateful to Nitish Kumar ji that despite my being an officer on deputation, he gave me crucial assignments. I served as Patna DM and headed the state’s power companies. In 2021, my deputation period ended and I was required to go back to my cadre. But I chose to stay in Bihar and serve my motherland,” said Verma.

The former bureaucrat had thereafter served as an Additional Adviser to the Chief Minister and a member of the Bihar State Disaster Management Authority.

Although there was no word, so far, on the responsibility Verma would get in the JD(U) headed by Nitish Kumar, his entry has fuelled speculations in the party that is devoid of solid second-rung leadership.

Party sources pointed towards the striking similarity in the trajectory of Verma and that of RCP Singh, who had briefly headed the JD(U).

A 1984 batch IAS officer, Singh had joined the JD(U) in 2010, and became its national president in 2021, but burnt his bridges with the supreme leader soon and quit.

Singh too was a resident of Nalanda and became close to Kumar when the latter was serving in the Union cabinet headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. PTI PKD NAC NN