lok-sabha-elections

Updated: Mar 26, 2019 15:18 IST

Soon after former Union minister Sukh Ram returned to the Congress with his grandson Ashray Sharma on Monday, hoping to get the party’s Lok Sabha ticket from Mandi, his son, Anil Sharma, the power minister in the Jai Ram Thakur-led BJP government offered to step down on moral grounds. Though the CM did not accept his resignation, he later said that the minister would have to quit if he campaigns for his son.

“I apprised Thakur of the Congress offer to allot the Mandi ticket to Ashray. I was not taken into confidence before they decided to join the Congress. I contested the assembly election in 2017 on a BJP ticket and will remain with the party,” Anil said after meeting Thakur. “It was a courtesy call. The BJP is free to act. Whatever action it takes is acceptable to me,” Anil said.

Initially, Thakur underplayed Sukh Ram’s move to join the Congress, saying: “Anil Sharma ji is my cabinet colleague. Sukh Ram ji and Ashray were never members of the BJP. They are independent to take their decisions. Ram Swaroop Sharma is the BJP candidate and we will work for his victory.”

Thakur later added that if Anil campaigned for his son in Mandi, he will have to resign.

State Congress leader Kaul Singh Thakur said Sukh Ram’s return to the Congress would go a big way in strengthening the party and bolster its prospects in Mandi parliamentary segment. “It’s a welcome decision,” he said.

Sukh Ram’s rival and former chief minister Virbhadra Singh, considered to be a frontrunner for the seat, did not speak to media. His son Vikramaditya Singh also evinced interest to contest from Mandi, a constituency his mother Pratibha Singh represented till she was defeated by BJP’s Ram Swaroop Sharma in 2014. “Our family has stood by the party at every crucial juncture. Virbhadra Singh is not only the tallest leader in the party but the tallest leader in the state. He wields influence across Himachal,” he said.