PATNA: After taking voluntary retirement from service, IAS officer Dinesh Kumar Rai appears ready to plunge into politics. Rai, a close aide of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, is set to contest the upcoming state assembly elections from Kargahar in Rohtas district.
A notification regarding the acceptance of VRS Rai was issued on Monday evening. Rai, who served as secretary in the state revenue and land reforms department, submitted his application for VRS on July 13, which was accepted by the government the following day (July 14, 2025).
Rai, from the Kurmi community, earlier served as personal secretary to chief minister Nitish Kumar for about nine years and held the post of district magistrate of West Champaran for two years.
A function was held at his native village Kushahi in Rohtas district recently.
Locals said that around 10,000 people were present at the function, which was organised to give message to people about Rai’s new innings in politics after voluntary retirement from elite service. He is stated to have worked for the people of Kargahar during his service.
“He is simple and down to earth. We need leaders like him who would listen to people’s grievances. As he has been in the administrative service for long, he has his contacts in bureaucratic circles, which will ultimately benefit people,” said Satyendra Kumar, a resident of Dehri-on-Sone in Rohtas district.
Rai has focused on the Kargahar seat as the Kurmi caste numbers are high in the area. The seat is currently held by Congress, and Rai may be fielded as an NDA candidate from JD(U) quota.
Political analysts believe that Rai could be a formidable candidate against serving MLA Santosh Kumar Mishra of Congress.
Mishra won the seat after defeating Uday Pratap Singh of JD(U) by a margin of over 4,000 votes. Kargahar assembly segment is part of Sasaram Lok Sabha seat, which is held by Manoj Kumar of Congress.
“Rai’s close proximity with Nitish might receive the backing of JD(U) supremo and allotted party symbol to contest election from Kargahar,” said a political observer.
Notably, NDA could not perform well during the 2020 assembly elections in entire Shahabad and Magadh regions.