E-Paper
A look at the six HP Congress MLAs who cross voted in Rajya Sabha polls
BJP turncoat Rajinder Rana and other MLAs express discontent over ministerial berths in Himachal Pradesh government, some joined Congress.
Rajinder Rana
A Bharatiya Janata Party turncoat and a three-term legislator from Sujanpur in chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s home district of Hamirpur, he was one of the leaders of the rebelling faction. A lieutenant of former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal, he quit the BJP after the party denied him ticket and joined the Congress in 2014. First elected to state assembly in 2012, he went on to defeat Dhumal on a Congress mandate in 2017. In the present government, Rana had expressed disappointment for getting a ministerial berth.
Sudhir Sharma
Dharamshala MLA Sudhir Sharma, another face leading the rebels, has previously served as the state’s urban development minister in the Virbhadra Singh-led Congress government. He was feeling sidelined by the party high command after not getting a cabinet berth in the incumbent government. Sharma was hopeful of finding a place in the cabinet from Kangra district, the epicentre of the state politics. Recently, he had voiced concerns regarding the state’s finances and also abstained from attending the annual plan meeting.
Davinder Kumar Bhutto
Davinder Bhutto, the first-time Congress MLA from Kutlehar, had voiced grievances over his constituency being ”discriminated” by the Sukhu government. Bhutto, who joined the Congress in 2013 after quitting the BJP, also served as the secretary of HP Congress Committee from 2021 to 2022.
Inder Dutt Lakhanpal
Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, a three-term MLA from Barsar, was also among those eyeing a ministerial portfolio in the incumbent government, but did not get one. Earlier, he had served as a councillor in Shimla municipal corporation from 1997 to 2002. He also served as a chief parliamentary secretary from May 2013 to December 2017.
Chaitanya Sharma
Chaitanya Sharma, who represents the Gagret assembly seat, has been criticising the government over lack of work in his constituency. Son of former Uttarakhand chief secretary Rakesh Sharma, the Congress MLA has a bachelor’s degree in international affairs from the George Washington University in the Unites States and law degree from Campus Law Centre. He was a member of Una zila parishad from 2020 to 2023.
Ravi Thakur
Ravi Thakur, a two-term Congress MLA from Lahaul-Spiti, also accused the Sukhu government of ignoring his constituency. “Anger is growing among public against the state government,” Thakur had said in a public address last year. Thakur, who has previously been the chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes from 2013 to 2016, also slammed the government over its failure to fill three vacant administrative posts in tribal district of Lahaul and Spiti.
The independents who cast their votes in favour of BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan.
Ashish Sharma
Ashish Sharma, who represents Hamirpur as an independent MLA, had approached both the BJP and the Congress for a ticket to contest the assembly polls in December 2022. After being elected, he was also nominated as a member of the public undertaking and ethics committees.
Hoshiyar Singh
Hoshiyar Singh is the only two-term independent legislator in the state assembly, representing Dehra since 2017. Though he had joined the BJP in the run-up to the 2022 assembly polls, he contested as independent after he was denied a ticket by the saffron party. He had also approached the Congress for a ticket.
KL Thakur
KL Thakur, who represents Nalagarh as an independent MLA, was first elected to the assembly in 2012 on a BJP ticket. He, however, lost the 2017 polls and was denied the party ticket by the BJP in 2022, following which he contested as independent.
