In battle for Kangra, Congress veteran debutant Anand Sharma flags Agniveer, invokes NSUI past to counter ‘outsider’ charge

Kangra is the most populous among Himachal’s four Lok Sabha constituencies which are going to polls in the seventh and final phase on June 1.

In the 2022 state Assembly elections clinched by the Congress, the party had won 12 of 17 Assembly seats that fall in the Kangra parliamentary constituency.

But one of its MLAs, Sudhir Sharma from the Dharamsala seat, revolted early this year and cross-voted against the party’s Rajya Sabha poll candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who lost to the BJP’s Harsh Mahajan. Later, Sharma along with five other rebel Congress MLAs was disqualified for disobeying the party whip. All of them later joined the BJP, which also gave them tickets for the by-elections in their seats, which will also take place on June 1.

Gangath, which is also famous for hosting an annual wrestling fair, falls under the Indora Assembly segment, from where the Congress’s Malender Rajan was elected in 2022.

Former Union minister , a senior member of CWC, and four-time Rajya Sabha MP, Sharma is making his Lok Sabha poll debut, with his campaign centred on the Congress’s plank against “threat to the Constitution”, unemployment, Agniveer and the BJP’s “failure” in creating 2 crore jobs every year. He touches upon each topic during his address to a gathering of around 200 people.

“This man is intelligent,” says a man in his 30s to another one in the crowd. “Yes,” the second man replies.

Dressed in white kurta pajama with a Congress flag wrapped around his neck, Sharma, who was born and brought up in Shimla, evokes his personal connection with Kangra to debunk the charge that he is an “outsider”. He recalls his days as a student leader who was the president of Himachal Youth Congress and was one among the founding members of the National Student Union of India (NSUI), when he would roam around every block of the district and neighbouring Chamba, to launch local units of the Congress’s student wing. As evidence, he points to his old companion on the dais, Jawali MLA Chander Kumar, 80.

Sharma recounts his efforts to establish the passport offices in Himachal back in 2006-7, the establishment of a National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in Kangra, among other things.

A member of the Congress dissidents’ group dubbed G-23, Sharma had also opposed the party’s aggressive campaign for a national caste census.

“I have been visiting this region for almost four-and-a-half decades. I was a founding member of the NSUI and was involved in the founding of every NSUI unit here in the early 1970s. In every election I criss-crossed Kangra and Chamba (the Kangra Lok Sabha seat encompasses both districts). I have a very strong connection. Of course, I had responsibilities in Delhi, but that doesn’t mean I lost connection with my birthplace. My opponent’s (‘outsider’) suggestion (against me) has no merit. I believe even he has now realised it and stopped raking up this issue,” he tells The Indian Express, as his SUV races towards Rehan Stadium to catch a chopper for Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh after the rally at Gangath.

Countering the allegation that his campaign focuses solely on the national issues, he says, “I regularly mention the Agniveer scheme, promising to wind it up once we form the government. Kangra is known for its soldiers. There is a need for holistic development of the entire region, especially Chamba, which is counted as backward. Another big issue is of Pong Dam oustees. I vow to take up all these matters aggressively in Parliament, once I get elected.”

Kangra has been a BJP bastion, having elected the BJP MPs over the last three elections. The BJP has fielded senior leader Rajeev Bhardwaj from the seat this time, replacing incumbent MP Kisan Kapoor, who belongs to the OBC Gaddi (shepherd) community. Kapoor is said to be suffering from various health issues. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Kapoor had defeated the Congress’s Pawan Kajal by over 4.77 lakh votes.

The Congress high command picked Sharma, who is considered close to the Gandhi family, after its “first choice”, the young Nagrota MLA Raghubir Singh Bali, a Brahmin leader, indicated his unwillingness to contest, sources said. Sharma dived into his campaign from the day he was nominated, beginning with a visit to the Kali Bari temple in Shimla.

He says, “Since May 3, I have visited all 17 Assembly segments twice. There are thousands of people I know since my Youth Congress days. Even their children are coming to meet me at my rallies. I address 5-6 rallies every day, some big, some small.”

On the question of whether the lack of a PM face in the INDIA bloc is discouraging electors, he says, “It does not matter. In 2004, we did not declare our PM candidate. You see, it is a strategy. Once the results are in, alliance members will sit down and decide together.”

“Winds of change are here. Divisive forces will definitely lose this time,” Sharma says in reply to a question about the Opposition alliance’s prospects in the polls.

At Indora, a local resident Surinder Rana says, “Anand Sharma’s campaigning is gathering pace.” As his convoy navigates the hilly roads, Sharma notices the BJP flags hanging from some premises. He asks MLA Rajan to check if they were government property.

Back in Gangath, brass utensils seller Madan Lal asks, “Does the Congress have any PM face? Who else is here but Narendra Modi?”