Anil Sharma son of former Congress leader Sukh Ram quit the Congress party just a few days ahead of the assembly polls due to be held on 9 Nov, giving the party a jolt.
Sharma holds the Rural Development Ministry in the state and is most likely to resign from the Himachal Pradesh Cabinet position soon. Soon after he quit the party, he held hands with BJP and significantly is also given the ticket to contest the Assembly elections as a BJP candidate from the Mandi constituency.
The problems for the ruling Congress party in Himachal Pradesh does not seem to be ending. Till now the party was dealing with the internal difference between Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and State Party President Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu. After Rahul Gandhi came up to the aide of the party making compromises amongst the two, the party got yet another jolt with the resignation of Sharma.
Congress has also been fearing feeling of anti-incumbency in the state and the Chief Minister is also dealing with a number of cases against him. Taking a jibe at this Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also made a remark on this when he had come to the state to lay the foundation stone for AIIMS. Modi had said that the current Himachal government is out on bail and why don’t the people change the ruling party.
Anil Sharma said that he and his father being sidelined and deliberately ignored by the party and hence he joined BJP. He alleged that he was sent back by Rahul Gandhi when he came to attend a rally in Mandi, while Sukhu was invited to attend the event.
He said that I would like to ask the Congress high command whether Sukhram is not a Congressman? Anil Sharma further said, “I have not been included in any committee created for the Assembly elections and when I asked about this from the President of Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee, he said that my name has been removed at a higher level, I was hurt and I decided to leave the party. ”
Welcome to @BJP4India, Sh Anil Sharma Ji,best wishes 2yu fr taking a stand agnst corruption & joining @narendramodi jis vision fr #NewIndia. pic.twitter.com/FGJF8bb9Ra
— Anurag Thakur (मोदी का परिवार) (@ianuragthakur) October 14, 2017
BJP also welcomed the former Congress leader, appreciating him for taking a stand against corruption and joining Narendra Modi’s vision for new India.
On 12 Oct during a press conference, the election commission had announced that the assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh will be held on 9 Nov. The filing of the nominations begins from 16 Oct and the last date to file the nominations is 23 Oct. The voting will be held on 9 Nov and the results will be announced on 18 Dec. The Election Commission had clarified that the photo-voted voter ID card will be used for voting. Total 7,521 polling booths of Himachal Pradesh will be created in view of assembly elections All the polling stations will be on ground floor. VVPAT machines will be used everywhere in the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections.
Congress had said that the incumbent Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh will continue to be the CM if the party wins the polls. However, BJP is yet to announce its candidate, though the name of two-time Himachal chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and Union minister J.P. Nadda are most likely to be nominated by BJP, but nothing is finalised yet.
Meanwhile, on the resignation of Anil Sharma, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh said that he was aware that Sharma would quit the party, but it will not impact the upcoming polls. He also said that anyone else who wants to leave the party is free to quit. “I had prior information about his quitting the party to join the BJP. But it would not impact the poll prospects of the Congress. If some other ministers also want to quit, they are free to do so,” he said.