Noted diplomat Pavan Verma appointed Nitish's cultural advisor

Verma met Kumar at his residence here and expressed desire to work with him for development of Bihar following which he was appointed cultural advisor to the Chief Minister, Principal Secretary to the CM Anjani Kumar Singh said.

Verma presented his recent book 'Chanakya's New Manifesto' to Kumar near a sapling of famous Bodhi tree, which has been planted at One Anne Marg, he said in a statement.

Verma said he was highly impressed with Kumar's clean politics, good governance, secular policy and expressed desire to work with him, the Principal Secretary said.

Verma, a native of Ghazipur district in Uttar Pradesh, joined Indian Foreign Service in 1976 and worked as diplomat in New York and Moscow.

The noted diplomat has penned a number of books, including 'Ghalib: The Man, The Times', 'The great Indian Middle Class' and 'Haveli of Old Delhi'.

He was bestowed civilian award 'The Druk Thuksey' by the King of Bhutan in December last year.

Verma's father B N Verma was an ICS officer while his grandfather Kamlakant Verma was first Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court.