Strange but true, Tara Chand Meena is probably the only IAS officer, who got VRS while waiting for posting order.
Meena has been named as the Congress candidate for Lok Sabha election from tribal seat of Udaipur.
He had been put on APO since January 5, 2024. Now from nowhere he will be relieved from his services.
“I have come across many officers who have been retired while in suspension. But this is probably unique case when officer took voluntary retirement while on APO. In rules, one can apply for VRS while being APO. But never heard such case,” said R C Jain, a retired IAS officer, who has seen Rajasthan bureaucracy from close quarters since last 50 years.
IAS Tara Chand Meena will take on a Rajasthan Transport Service officer Mannalal Rawat on this tribal seat. While Mannalal has strong connections with locals as he spent most of his service period in Udaipur division, Meena too connected well with Udaipur people during his term as collector and commissioner tribal area development.
Meena has been eyeing Congress ticket while in service
Tara Chand Meena is close to former chief minister Ashok Gehlot. He had been nursing ambition to contest election for long and during his service he had started preparation. There were two IAS officers during Gehlot regime who were preparing for their political plunge during last years of their service.
One was former chief secretary Niranjan Arya, who had contested assembly election on Congress ticket form Sojat. He had lost the election like his wife Sangeeta Arya, who had contested from the same seat in 2013 elections. Niranjan Arya like Meena is a close confidante of Ashok Gehlot who made Arya chief secretary superseding at least 10 IAS officers. After retirement Niranjan Arya was appointed as advisor to chief minister Gehlot before he contested the election in 2023.
Strangely, Tara Chand Meena also belongs to Pali like Niranjan Arya – another favourite of Ashok Gehlot.
Why IAS Tara Chand Meena was handpicked?
According to sources, Meena was purposefully made to station in Udaipur so that he can prepare his grounds for election. In last two elections Raghuveer Meena had lost elections from Udaipur and Congress wanted a fresh face. Tara Chand Meena fitted the bill.
He launched the Misison Kotda, a programme aimed at improving the quality of life of citizens in the most backward blocks through targeted development initiatives in the field of health, nutrition, finance and infrastructure.
The programme not only gave Meena an identity among backward tribals but also caught the eyes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who instructed Niti Aayog to start Aspirational Block Programme (ABP) in Kherwara block of Udaipur district in order to promote development standards on the line of Mission Kotda.
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