HP Assy polls: Virbhadra gets jolt as Cabinet Minister Anil joins BJP

15  October,Shimla

In a big jolt to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh just ahead of the state Assembly elections, his cabinet Minister Anil Sharma, son of former Union Minister Sukh Ram, joined BJP.

On Saturday night, Anil Sharma, Rural development and Panchayati Raj in the Virbhadra Singh government, announced his cross over to BJP. He was reportedly in touch with BJP central leaders and had met party president Amit Shah recently.

Talking to mediapersons here, Anil Sharma told media persons that he was feeling suffocated as his father Sukh Ram was kept out of AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s recent rally in Mandi.

Sukh Ram has been sidelined by the Congress following his conviction in Telcom Scandal. Anil Sharma, a three-time MLA from Mandi and former Rajya Sabha member, earlier served as minister of state in the Virbhadra cabinet from 1993 to 1996 but resigned after his father was arrested.

Later, he joined Himachal Vikas Congress floated by his father in 1997. The party merged with the Congress ahead of the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. It was amid protests within the party in 2014 that the Congress gave him the state ministry that he has now quit.