A day after Congress declared Anita Rana, wife of its lok Sabha nominee Rajendra Rana, as its candidate for Sujanpur seat, the BJP attacked the ruling party for fielding candidates poached from it. BJP spokesperson and former Minister Praveen Sharma alleged that since the Congress is fighting elections with leaders taken on loan from other parties. “The Congress will be declared totally bankrupt on May 16 after the lok Sabha vote counting,” said Sharma.
Sharma claimed that in 2009, no Congress leader was willing to contest against sitting BJP MP Anurag Thakur from Hamirpur seat and Congress had to field a BJP rebel to contest against him. “In 2012 Assembly elections too, no Congress leader was willing to take on Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal. The same rebel candidate was again made to contest against Dhumal as a result the Congress faced defeat in both the elections,” said Sharma.
This time again, for the lok Sabha elections, the names of many Congress leaders were thrown up in the ring but slowly everyone backed out on one pretext or the other and the party rebels were given ticket. “Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had again successfully poached a BJP rebel and independent MlA Rajendra Rana and making him contest the elections on behalf of Congress,” he said adding that Congress had already made Rana sacrifice his membership of assembly and after the lok Sabha results, Rana will be left nowhere.
Sharma said that it is the same Rana who had to quit as media adviser for his alleged involvement in some case of moral turpitude. “Virbhadra Singh had then demanded Rana’s arrest and in the Congress chargesheet, against the then BJP Government presented to the Governor, demanded CBI inquiry against Rana,” added Sharma. “The Congress is running out of leaders in Hamirpur and therefore, it is repeatedly making BJP rebels or poached leaders to contest against the BJP leaders,” added Sharma.