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Mandi MLA Anil Sharma reluctant to campaign for saffron party in civic polls
Union minister Sukhram’s son says he is not sure if he still a part of the party two years after stepping down as power minister as he is never invited to party meetings
At a time when the BJP is using all its might to win the municipal corporation polls in chief minister Jai Ram Thakur’s home turf, local legislator and former minister Anil Sharma has refused to campaign for the civic body polls in his hometown Mandi.
Sharma, the son of former Union minister Sukhram, had joined the saffron party ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections. His entry came as a shot in the arm for the BJP as his father, Sukhram, is credited with bringing the telecom revolution and wields considerable influence in the state. After winning the polls, Sharma was appointed power minister. However, he was compelled to give up his Cabinet berth after his son Ashray contested elections to the Lok Sabha on a Congress ticket.
A visibly disgruntled Anil Sharma said, “Two years have passed since I stepped down as minister. Today, I do not know whether I am part of the party or not. I am never invited to party meetings. My name is not on foundation stones being laid for different projects in Mandi assembly segments.”
Jai Ram is ignoring me, says Anil Sharma
Sharma says he felt isolated in the party . “This is the first time that I have not been invited to the Shivratri fair. So, despite being in Mandi I was not able to attend the festival. I was harassed and humiliated on public platforms. I don’t know under whose pressure chief minister Jai Ram Thakur is ignoring me.”
He also alleged lack of development in Mandi. “People in Mandi had high hopes as our chief minister hails from the district. However, development projects initiated by me or the CM himself have been halted or left incomplete,” said the former minister.”
Sharma said that he will soon hold a press meet in his hometown to highlight the bias meted out to Mandi with facts and figures. Sharma said he welcomed the government’s decision to upgrade the Mandi municipal council to a municipal corporation but was against including some rural area within its limits.
“The CM had said in a public meeting that if people of rural areas were opposed to including villages within the municipal corporation’s limits, they will be excluded,” said Sharma. “However, the time to do so is over and the government will give a befitting response from the public in the MC elections,” he said.
‘The party does not feel I am required’
On his role in the MC polls, Sharma said the government and party do not feel he is required so has not been given any responsibility. “I will not support this party in the elections,” he said.
He also hit out at Jal Shakti Minister Mahender Singh for interfering and altering different development projects executed in Mandi, which he said have become a bane for people. He said he had different plans for Mandi town, but the CM always neglected them.
Sharma said the decision to join BJP in the last assembly election was taken by his family and now people will decide the next course of action for him.
