Three days after taking voluntary retirement, IAS officer K.P. Ramiyah Monday joined Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) -- and is set to contest the Lok Sabha polls.
Ramiyah, who belongs to Andhra Pradesh, is likely to be a candidate in Sasaram or Gaya.
Ramiyah headed the "Mahadalit Commission" created by Nitish Kumar to empower the poorest among Dalit castes -- minus the Paswan caste to which LJP president Ramvilas Paswan belongs.
If Ramiyah is fielded in Sasaram, he will take on Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, a former IFS officer.
Meira Kumar's father, the late Dalit leader Jagjivan Ram, represented Sasaram in the Lok Sabha for decades. Meira Kumar was elected from Sasaram in 2004 and 2009.
