Himachal Pradesh crisis: Meet the 9 MLAs who voted against Congress and the minister who resigned

The Congress MLAs

* Rajinder Rana, 57 – Sujanpur MLA

Rajinder Rana was once a BJP leader and a loyalist of former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal. He was the spokesperson and the media in-charge of the Himachal Pradesh BJP from 2006-2012. However, following differences with the party in 2012, he resigned from the party and contested as an Independent from Sujanpur, defeating Congress’s Anita Verma by a margin of 14,166 votes. He later joined the Congress.

In 2017, Rana hit the headlines after he defeated the BJP’s CM face, Dhumal, from Sujanpur with a margin of 1,919 votes. Sujanpur is in Hamirpur district. In 2022, Rana won yet again after defeating BJP’s Ranjeet Singh but the margin was a mere 399 votes.

Raha aspired to a ministerial berth in the current Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu ministry but failed to secure a place and this was a probable reason for his rebellion. Rana is currently leading all the MLAs who voted against Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi and has said that he will not accept any ministerial berth now.

* Sudhir Sharma, 51 – Dharamshala MLA

A veteran Congressman, Sudhir Sharma’s father, the late Sant Ram, was a former Himachal Pradesh minister. Sharma was also an aspirant for a Cabinet berth in the Sukhu government but did not make the cut and was said to be upset. He started his political journey in 1991 at the age of 19 by joining the National Students’ Union of India. Subsequently, he became a part of the Himachal Pradesh Youth Congress in 1994.

A four-time MLA, Sharma won two elections from Baijnath in 2003 and 2007. In 2012, he won from Dharamshala and was inducted as the housing and urban development minister in the Virbhadra Singh government. In 2022, he won for the fourth time by defeating BJP’s Rakesh Chaudhary by 3,285 votes. Sharma, however, had differences with Sukhu and was recently upset over the denial of 55 acres of land for the north campus of Central University of Himachal Pradesh in Dharamshala.

* Indradutt Lakhanpal, 61 – Barsar MLA

Three-time MLA Indradutt Lakhanpal is also a veteran Congressman who was first elected as a municipal councillor in 1997 and later in 2002 from the Shimla Municipal Corporation. He won as an MLA from Hamirpur constituency in 2012 and 2017. In 2022, he won from the Barsar constituency of Hamirpur district defeating BJP’s Maya Sharma with a margin of 13,792 votes.

* Ravi Thakur, 61 – Lahaul and Spiti MLA

A veteran Congressman, Ravi Thakur is the son of the late Lata Thakur, a former Congress MLA. He was chairman of the Congress Seva Dal and the chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes from 2013-2016.

Thakur became the first-time MLA from Lahaul and Spiti in 2012 and won for the second time in 2022 by defeating BJP’s Ramlal Markandey with a small margin of 1,616 votes. A vocal voice in the Vidhan Sabha, Thakur had recently raised the issue of the border demarcation of Lahaul and Spiti with Ladakh and even had written to the Himachal Pradesh governor on the issue.

* Chaitanya Sharma, 29 – Gagret MLA

Popular among the youth, Chaitanya Sharma is the son of former Uttarakhand chief secretary Rakesh Sharma. He defeated BJP’s sitting MLA in Gagret, Rajesh Thakur, by a margin of 15,685 votes. In 2020, he had won the Zilla Parishad polls as an Independent candidate and had joined the Congress ahead of the Vidhan Sabha polls. Sharma had been seeking employment opportunities for local youth so that youngsters would not leave the state. Sharma is an advocate and has floated an NGO named Yuva Shakti Parakram that focuses on empowering youngsters.

* Davinder Bhutto, 50 – Kutlehar MLA

Davinder Bhutto is a first-time MLA from Kutlehar constituency who defeated BJP’s Virender Kanwar with a margin of 7,579 votes. He has been associated with the Congress for more than two decades. He has held various posts in the Bangana Panchayat Samiti since 2000. He was nominated as a member of the Public Undertakings Committee and the Public Administration Committee of the Vidhan Sabha.

The Independents

* Hoshyar Singh, 57 – Dehra MLA

Hoshyar Singh, an Independent MLA, had joined the BJP just before the November 2022 Assembly polls in the state but was denied a party ticket. He contested as an Independent and won by defeating Congress’s Dr Rajesh Sharma with a margin of 3,877 votes. Singh extended support to the Sukhu ministry without joining the party. In 2017 too, Singh had won as an Independent candidate and had extended support to the Jai Ram Thakur-led BJP government at the time.

* K L Thakur, 62 – Nalagarh MLA

A BJP rebel, K L Thakur had contested as an Independent in 2022 after the BJP had denied him a ticket. Nalagarh is in Solan district. Thakur had defeated Congress’s Hardeep Singh Bajwa with a huge margin of 13,264 votes. Earlier, he had won as a BJP MLA in 2012. Thakur joined politics more than two decades ago after taking voluntary retirement from his job as an executive engineer in the Jal Shakti department of Himachal Pradesh. In 2017, Thakur had lost as a BJP candidate to Congress’s Lakhwinder Singh Rana.

* Ashish Sharma, 36 – Hamirpur MLA

Ashish Sharma had not joined any party before contesting the 2022 Assembly polls but is considered close to the BJP and was the top contender to get a ticket but was denied one. Sharma contested as an Independent and defeated Congress’s Dr Pushpendra Verma with a margin of 12,899 votes while BJP candidate Narendra Thakur finished a poor third. After winning the elections, Sharma had visited Sukhu and former CM Dhumal. He extended external support to the Sukhu government until Tuesday.