Raipur District Collector O P Chaudhary has resigned from service amid reports that he may be joining the ruling BJP in Chhattisgarh.
The 2005-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Chaudhary has submitted his resignation letter to the Personnel and Training department, for acceptance, a senior government official here told PTI.
Chaudhary, however, was not available for comment on his resignation.
According to media reports, the officer is likely to join the BJP. Although the BJP did not confirm about it, the party said he was welcome if he was willing to do so.
Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh are likely to be held by the end of this year.
There are reports that Chaudhary, who is credited for bringing transformation in education in the naxal-affected Dantewada district of the state, will join the BJP and contest the upcoming assembly poll from Kharsiya seat- a Congress bastion, in Raigarh district, his native area.
Umesh Patel, son of former state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, who was killed in Jhiram valley naxal attack in Darbha region of Bastar ahead of 2013 assembly polls, is the incumbent Congress MLA from Kharsiya.
Chaudhary belongs Patel's Aghariya community, a dominant OBC community in Raigarh, and he may dent the traditional Congress vote bank if the saffron party decides to field him from the seat.
The officer was given the Prime Minister's Award for Excellence in Public Administration for the year 2011-12 for his contribution in development of Naxal-affected areas through education.
BJP sources said the ruling party has been looking for a suitable candidate for the assembly seat.
"As of now, there is no confirmation from the party's top leadership (about Chaudhary's joining the BJP) and if anything would be there, it will be all clear soon," state BJP general secretary Santosh Pandey told PTI.
Pandey added that the BJP has been inviting prominent personalities from different walks of life, including sports, arts and literature, to join the party and serve the people.
"If IAS and IPS officers want to join the party, then is a good sign for the party and they are welcomed in the outfit," he added.
Meanwhile, opposition Congress dubbed Chaudhary an "RSS agent" and accused him of supporting the ruling BJP during his service.
"Even earlier, we had said that he had been supporting the BJP as a bureaucrat. He was working at the behest of the ruling party. He is an RSS agent," state Congress general secretary Shailesh Nitin Trivedi alleged.
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