In a major setback to the ruling party in Himachal, its former BJP chief Khimi Ram Sharma on Tuesday joined the Congress at the party’s headquarters in New Delhi in the presence of Rajya Sabha member and Himachal party affairs incharge Rajeev Shukla.
Khimi Ram has been a close confidante of former HP chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal. He remained the state BJP chief from 2009 to 2012. He served as an MLA from Banjar assembly constituency twice from 2003 to 2012. He has also served as deputy speaker of HP Vidhan Sabha in 2007 and later was elected as the state BJP chief. In 2011, he was inducted in the state cabinet as forest minister.
“I am not joining the Congress out of any anger towards the BJP. I have made a well-thought out decision to take the Congress forward in Himachal Pradesh,” he told reporters in Delhi.
Khimi Ram said he is confident that the Congress will be able to form the government in Himachal as there is a lot of corruption, unemployment, inflation and pending employee issues, including those related to the pension scheme.
“We will bring these issues before the people of the state and help form the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“We will bring these issues before the people of the state and help form the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Khimi Ram has been a popular leader in Banjar. He entered the political fray in 1999. The next year, he contested elections for the zila parishad and became chairperson. He was elected to the Vidhan Sabha in 2003 and again in 2007. Khimi Ram lost the 2017 assembly election to former education minister Karan Singh.
HPCC chief Pratibha Singh also welcomed Khimi Ram into the party fold. She said Khimi’s decision to join them would strengthen the party. She claimed that many leaders from the BJP were in touch with the party. “They are unhappy with the policies and treatment being meted out to them in the party. Rather, they are feeling suffocated,” she claimed.