Denial of ticket setback for Ashray

Dipender Manta

Tribune News Service

Mandi, March 24

Ashray Sharma, grandson of former Telecom Minister Pandit Sukh Ram, suffered big setback after the BJP yesterday declared sitting MP Ramswaroop Sharma as party candidate from Mandi parliamentary constituency to contest the Lok Sabha elections.

Ashray was demanding ticket from the BJP to contest elections from Mandi. His father Anil Sharma is power Minister in the BJP government. Keen to test his luck in state politics Ashray had even started campaigning in the Mandi parliamentary constituency well in advance. He had been visiting voters for the past few months to seek their support in the elections.

Initiating political campaign in advance, Ashray had tried to pressurise the state BJP leadership into forwarding his name for the Lok Sabha elections to the BJP high command but Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and many other top brass leaders of BJP were not in his favour. Despite speculation of change in ticket, the BJP leadership preferred to repose confidence on sitting BJP MP Ramswaroop Sharma. Ramswaroop had defeated the Congress candidate Pratibha Singh, wife of former Chief Minister and Congress stalwart Virbhadra Singh, with a handsome margin in the last Lok Sabha elections in 2014.

Addressing a press conference last month, Ashray Sharma had claimed that he was keen to contest elections on the BJP ticket to fulfill the dream of his grandfather Sukh Ram. Sukh Ram has represented the Mandi constituency three times and Ashray was confident that the connection his grandfather had with the public will help him in the elections.