In Himachal, is Sukh Ram’s son nearing end in BJP? The jury is still out

Anil Sharma, a former minister, has been sidelined in the party since his late father and son moved to Congress in 2019. Now, all eyes are on how he will vote in the presidential polls.

Former Himachal Pradesh Cabinet minister Anil Sharma. (ANI)

The son of the late Sukh Ram, former state Cabinet minister Anil Sharma has been sidelined in the BJP ever since his father — a former Union minister and Himachali politics stalwart — and son Ashray Sharma switched sides and joined the Congress before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. And now, the tenuous link between the Mandi Sadar MLA and the party seems to be more strained than ever.

In the past week, Sharma has not attended two of the BJP legislature party’s meetings on the July 18 presidential election. Sharma, who was the minister for rural development in the Virbhadra Singh cabinet, switched to the BJP along with his father and son before the 2017 Assembly polls. The Sukh Ram impact is said to have helped the party win nine out of 10 seats in Mandi district, which is also Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur’s home district. Though Sharma got a space in the Thakur Cabinet, Sukh Ram could not make much headway in the BJP and the ruling party also denied Ashray the Lok Sabha election ticket from Mandi. As a disgruntled Ashray and Sukh Ram joined the Congress, Sharma stepped down from his ministerial positions but remained in the party, albeit pushed to the periphery. The move did not pay off as Ashray lost the Lok Sabha election.

With the presidential election approaching, the BJP legislature party convened a meeting in Chandigarh on June 23 and in the town of Baddi in Solan district to discuss how to ensure the victory of the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) nominee and former Jharkhand Governor Droupadi Murmu. But Sharma did not turn up for either meeting, claiming that both times he was informed about the meeting late and he did not have time to make it to the venues.

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The former minister has previously claimed that since he stepped down from government he has not been invited to party functions and meetings even in his own constituency. Last year, during a bypoll for the Mandi parliamentary seat, Sharma and his family did not campaign for the party’s candidate Brigadier Khushal Thakur even despite requests from Thakur and the BJP leadership. In the end, Thakur lost to Virbhadra’s wife Pratibha Singh.

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BJP insiders said it had been deliberate to inform Sharma about the meetings at the eleventh hour. According to a senior MLA, the BJP state leadership has been calling so many legislature party meetings as it is apprehensive about cross-voting might in the presidential election.

Sharma has claimed he will follow the party’s diktats till it was its part and denied being contacted by Congress leaders to support the Opposition’s consensus candidate Yashwant Sinha. But it remains to be seen who he votes for on July 18. Though if Sharma cross-votes it won’t have any impact on the end result, it may finally pave the for his exit from the BJP and yet again alter the political dynamics in Mandi district.

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