On the campaign trail in Chhattisgarh last month, Union Home Minister Amit Shah made a declaration. Appealing for votes at an event in Raigarh on November 9, he promised to make IAS-turned-politician O P Choudhary, the BJP candidate from the constituency, a “big man” if he got voted. Choudhary ended up defeating incumbent Congress MLA Prakash Sakrajeet Naik by 64,000 votes. And true to Shah’s words, Chaudhary was inducted into the state’s Cabinet on Friday along with eight other MLAs. This was no surprise to those in the know of the workings of the state BJP unit. The 42-year-old is considered a disciplined party worker and is said to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as Shah. In 2018, after 13 years of Union administrative service in Chhattisgarh, he quit as Raipur Collector and joined the BJP. “My desire to work for the people through active politics and inspiration from Modi ji’s leadership motivated me to resign,” Choudhary said at the time. He first contested the polls in 2018 from his hometown of Kharsia but lost to former minister Umesh Patel. Patel is the son of former Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief and minister Nand Kumar Patel. The family has never lost the Kharsia seat since the 1990s. But the second opportunity came this year with Raigarh and by this time, Choudhary’s stature within the party had grown. He was appointed general secretary of Chhattisgarh BJP in 2019 and was a regular on TV debates and discussions as a party spokesperson. “As general secretary of the party, he had many responsibilities and his work was to implement the party's policy at the grassroots level. He has been a hyper-active leader with a strong connection with the masses,” said BJP spokesperson Kedar Gupta. Journey to politics Choudhary lost his father, a government schoolteacher, at a young age and was raised by his mother, a homemaker. He said that at 11 he was inspired by the work of a Collector in Raigarh who helped them resolve a delay in receiving the pension. Choudhary has said he made up his mind at the time to become a Collector himself. He cracked the UPSC when he was 23 years old and was in the 2005 batch of the Chhattisgarh cadre, the first such team after the state was carved out of Madhya Pradesh. During his tenure as the Dantewada District Collector, Choudhary executed initiatives such as Nande Parinde and Chu lo Asma to provide quality education to children from remote villages. He was awarded the Prime Minister Award for Excellence in Public Administration for Innovative work in Education in 2013. After joining the BJP, the Congress raised several questions about his tenure in Dantewada, alleging financial irregularities and a land scam. Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel claimed Choudhary was an “exploiter of Adivasis”. Responding to these allegations, Choudhary earlier told The Indian Express, “In a Maoist-affected district like Dantewada, when you do something big, like building an education centre or a college, things will get stuck…Small issues in procedural things can happen. But the intention is important. Secondly, the allegations of financial irregularity are baseless. They say the land under question was worth crores when it was worth Rs 20 lakh." Asked about what he would like to change in Chhattisgarh, he said: "I feel the youth of Chhattisgarh do not get as many opportunities as they should get. Be it from a future point of view or employment point of view. Also, my top priority would be to fulfil the Modi guarantees and end mafia raj in Chhattisgarh." Choudhary is also known for helping youngsters who aspire to become civil servants. His wife Aditi Choudhary is a member of the Indian Railways Personnel Services. As per his affidavit, he has five FIRs against him.
