Two Maharashtra ex-bureaucrats join Congress

Mumbai, Feb 9 (IANS) Two top retired IAS officers from Maharashtra, including Uttam Khobragade, the father of controversial IFS officer Devyani Khobragade, have joined the Congress, a party leader said here on Friday.

The other ex-officer is Kishore Gajbhiye, who was earlier with the Bahujan Samaj Party, said Maharashtra Congress President Ashok Chavan.

Khobragade, 66 and Gajbhiye, 61, were welcomed to the party fold by Congress President Rahul Gandhi here on Friday, he added tweeting pictures of the brief welcome ceremony.

Khobragade has handled several key assignments including CEO of Maharashtra Housing & Area Development Authority, FDA Commissioner and General Manager of Bombay Electric Supply & Transport (BEST), the crucial transport wing of BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation.

Post-retirement, the Mumbai-based bureaucrat had joined the Republican Party of India-A headed by Union Minister Ramdas Athawale, but later switched over to Janshakti Party led by Ram Vilas Paswan.

In 2013, his daughter made the headlines when she was the Deputy Consul-General in the Indian Consulate in New York City for various reasons before she returned to India.

Among various high-profile postings, Gajbhiye, hailing from Nagpur, once served as the Additional Municipal Commissioner in Mumbai.

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