Anurag placates two-time MLA Govind Ram, others

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan,October 8

Anurag Thakur, Union Minister for Sports, Youth Affairs, Information and Broadcasting, today managed to placate disgruntled BJP leaders of Arki, including two-time MLA Govind Ram Sharma.

Anurag was specially assigned the task to bring around Sharma. He met Sharma at Shalaghat immediately after he arrived in Arki and managed to convince the latter not to file papers for the byelection.

Sharma had decided to file his nomination today after he was denied the BJP ticket. He was unhappy with the BJP for fielding Rattan Pal from Arki, who had lost the Assembly election in 2017.

Sharma had met Chief Minister in Shimla last night where efforts were made to placate him. He, however, asked his supporters through his social media account to meet him in front of a park facing the hospital around 9 am, purportedly to file his nomination papers.

“Union minister Anurag Thakur urged Govind Ram Sharma not to file his nomination and the latter relented,” said a party leader. The disgruntled leader wanted senior party leaders to know about his sacrifices and contributions to the party, he added.

The dramatic turn of events has exposed two senior BJP leaders, who were pressuring Sharma to contest the byelection as an Independent candidate. These leaders wanted both official nominee Rattan Pal and Sharma to lose the byelection due to a division of party votes. This would have helped them stake their claims to the ticket for the Assembly elections next year. While one of the two leaders was seen with Sharma all the times, another was pressuring him to contest the byelection.

Zila Parishad members Asha Parihar and Amar Singh, who had opposed Rattan Pal’s candidature, also fell in line with the party decision after a meeting with Anurag. Govind Ram’s entry into the poll fray would have adversely affected the BJP’s poll prospects in Arki, as the party had lost the 2017 Assembly election from the seat.