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Ahead of MC polls, Anil Sharma trains guns on HP CM
Anil Sharma, who was the power minister in the Jai Ram cabinet, was compelled to give up his cabinet berth after his son Ashray Sharma contested on a Congress ticket during Lok Sabha polls.
Days after chief minister Jai Ram Thakur attacked his colleague and party legislator from Mandi, Anil Sharma, for not campaigning during the municipal corporation elections, the latter launched a counter-offensive and hit back at the government over lack of development in the town popular as ‘Choti Kashi’.
Anil Sharma, who was the power minister in the Jai Ram cabinet, was compelled to give up his cabinet berth after his son Ashray Sharma contested on a Congress ticket during Lok Sabha polls. “Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur is a decent man, but he is being misled by his cabinet minister Mahender Singh Thakur,” said Sharma.
BJP did not include Sharma, a local legislator from Mandi, in the panel constituted for the municipal elections. But with no party member being able to match up to Sharma’s popularity in Mandi, the CM entrusted the poll responsibility to Jal Shakti minister Mahender Singh Thakur.
“Jai Ram Thakur has begun lying in the company of Mahender Singh Thakur. He is making false claims on development of Mandi town,” said Sharma addressing the media in Mandi town. “Mahender Singh and Lok Sabha members had committed to remain resolute for the development of Mandi but nothing has been done so far. Who will trust them in future?” asked Sharma.
“I will no longer remain silent. The CM allocated ₹3 lakh for the under-construction school in Kotli that has an estimated cost of ₹1.5 crore,” he said.
Sharma also credited his own father for the development of Mandi. “Fifty years ago when my father contested elections from Mandi, there was no sewage plant and the town was dependent on manual scavenging,” he said.
“Shankaumar jee is remembered largely as Paani waala Mukhya Mantri and Dhumaljee as Road waala Mukhya mantra, but Jai Ram jee is only known Seraj waala Mukhya mantra,” he said. Claiming that he was pushed to the margins, Sharma said, “I was not allowed to share the stage with him; there was no invitation for historic Shivratri mela. If my son made a mistake by contesting on a Congress ticket, then why am I being punished?”
