In what could be seen as a major setback to the ruling Congress in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh, Anil Sharma, who was a sitting Cabinet Minister in Virbhadra Singh-led present Government, has joined the BJP.
Sharma, who has charge of Rural Development, is the son of former Telecom Minister Sukh Ram.
“I have resigned both from the party and the Government owing to deliberate ignorance by the Congress in the run-up to the elections,” Sharma told reporters in Mandi town, his home constituency.
“Firstly, we were ignored at Rahul Gandhi’s rally in Mandi and then later in the constitution of election committees announced recently by the party central leadership.”
Sharma was inducted into the Cabinet in 2013 and was allocated portfolios of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj and Animal Husbandry. He was also Minister of State from 1993-97.
“I was not included in any of the committees for the Assembly polls and when I asked about this from HPCC president, he said that my name was deleted at the higher level which hurt me and I decided to quit,” he said, on the reasons for joining the BJP.
The Mandi seat was represented by Sukh Ram from 1962 till November 1984, when he was elected to lok Sabha and his protégé D.D. Thakur won the seat in 1985 while the BJP wrested the seat in 1990.
In the 1993 Assembly poll, his son Anil Sharma won from Mandi but after Sukh Ram’s name surfaced in the Telecom scam, he was expelled from the Congress and formed Himachal Vikas Congress which entered into a post poll alliance with BJP and joined the government.
While Sukh Ram won from Mandi, Anil Sharma was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1998. In the 2003 Assembly polls, Sukh Ram was the sole HVC member to win the election from Mandi but he joined the Congress ahead of the 2004 lok Sabha polls.
Anil Sharma again won from Mandi in 2007 and 2012 as a Congress candidate and is set to contest as a BJP candidate this time.
Bollywood superstar Salman Khan’s foster sister Arpita is married to Anil Sharma’s son, Aayush.
Himachal Pradesh, presently ruled by the Congress, will go to polls on on November 9 to elect its new 68-member assembly.
Schedule for Election of legislative Assembly of Himachal
Pushpendra Rajput, Chief Electoral Officer, HImachal Pradesh, on Sunday said the code of conduct in the State would remain in force till the completion of the election process.
Rajput said according to schedule, notification in this regard would be issued on October 16 and the last date for filing nominations would be October 23 and scrutiny of nominations would be held on Oct 24 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is 26th. Counting would be held on December 18 and the election process will be completed by December 20.
Out of total 68 Assembly constituencies in the States, 17 seats were reserved for Scheduled Caste and three for Scheduled Tribes. He said the electoral rolls of all the existing Assembly Constituencies had been revised and as per the final publication the total electors in the State are 4913888 which are likely to be increase after final disposal of new form No.6 received during special campaign run in the state from 16th to 30th September, 2017. He said that 100 percent photo electoral rolls would be used during the general elections.
The CEO said EVM with VVPAT would be used in all the 7521 polling stations of 68 Assembly Constituencies of the State. He said VVPAT was being used for the first time in the assembly election which would enable voter to see the name and symbol of the candidate for 7 second to whom he has cast his vote.