IAS aspirant's tryst with politics

GOPALGANJ: Once upon a time there was an MLA who aspired to become an IAS officer! He wrote the civil services exam, cleared it and was called for


RJD candidate Anil Kumar. (TOI Photo)interview. Unfortunately for the IAS aspirant, the interview board chairman asked him if he was already employed. "I am an MLA, recently elected from Bhore in Bihar's Gopalganj district," he said. "What are you doing here? Politics needs educated people like you," the board chairman said, and as the young man made an exit, he knew he would not get the job he had long coveted. Pride was writ large on the face of Anil Kumar when he recalled his tryst with destiny at Delhi’s Dholpur House in 1985. In politics, meanwhile, Kumar thrived and is now RJD candidate from Gopalganj reserved parliamentary constituency. Kumar, who has two brothers in the civil services and a third who is a doctor, is among a handful of politicians in Bihar who speaks English fluently. Fondly called Sheru Bhai by his friends, he is held in high esteem by one and all because he has never indulged in corruption and mud-slinging. “He is a gem of a person. His rival candidates are no match to him,” says Patna University Teachers’ Association general secretary Randhir Kumar Singh who is camping here to help his friend. Kumar, now 50, is a product of Patna’s prestigious St Xavier’s and St Michael’s schools, and even his opponents appreciate his simplicity and sobriety. “Sheru Bhai is one person who has friends in all sections of society,” said a local BJP sympathizer. Sheru Bhai has both degree and pedigree. His father Chandrika Ram was the first Dalit from the region to hold a law degree. A deputy minister in the former S K Sinha-led Congress government in the state, Ram also served as a member of the Constituent Assembly. "Sheru Bhai has qualities you will rarely get in the politicians of today," said Sharafat Hussain, a local businessman.

Courtsey : The Times of India