Journalism of Courage
The Congress party’s Chaitanya Sharma, 28, is the youngest MLA in the newly-elected 68-member Himachal Pradesh Assembly.
Contesting from the Gagret Assembly seat, Chaitanya trounced the sitting BJP MLA Rajesh Thakur by over 15,000 votes.
Chaitanya is the son of former Uttarakhand chief secretary Rakesh Sharma, who hit the Gagret constituency trail to campaign for him.
He had won the Zila Parishad election from Gagret’s Bhanjal ward in the 2021 Panchayat polls as an Independent candidate. In the recent Himachal elections, the Congress gave him a ticket from Gagret by ignoring the claim of its former three-term legislator Rakesh Kalia, which paid off.
Chaitanya studied law in India as well as the United States, where he also worked as an intern with the World Bank in its climate change department.
After his return to India, he set up a Self Help Group called Yuva Shakti Prakaram in Himachal’s Una with the objective to assist local residents in matters related to politics and administration. It was during this time that he moved to join politics.
“While working on the ground, I realised that politics might be the way. It gave me an understanding of the public which eventually helped in my campaigning,” Chaitanya told The Indian Express.
When asked why did he join the then principal Opposition Congress instead of the incumbent BJP, Chaitanya said, “The BJP has a top to bottom approach which is not sustainable. The larger idea of democracy within and outside the party should be maintained. I did not have any ideological difference with BJP but the Congress party has a vision for the future.”
Chaitanya also said he was looking forward to address “holistic community issues” as the Congress takes charge of the hill state. “The need of the hour is to bring about change. We will focus on job creation and other aspects of employment. It is an important victory for the party and for the public as well,” he said.
