Rebellion in Dehra Congress, HPCC treasurer may contest as Independent

Tribune New Service

Dharamsala, June 19

HPCC treasurer Rajesh Sharma today adopted a rebellious posture and hinted that he may contest the Dehra Assembly byelection as an Independent candidate after the party fielded the wife of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Kamlesh Thakur, from the constituency. Sharma had contested the 2022 Assembly elections from Dehra on the Congress ticket but lost to Independent candidate Hoshiyar Singh, who is now the BJP candidate.

Sharma was expecting the party ticket and had been campaigning in the Dehra Assembly segment. Today, he held meetings with his supporters in the constituency. He hinted that he may contest the Dehra byelection as an Independent candidate if the party high command did not give him the ticket. He accused the Chief Minister of ignoring his claim to the ticket and favouring his wife for the byelection. He said that it was unprecedented that a sitting Chief Minister had chosen his wife as a candidate for the Assembly byelection.

Sharma also accused the Chief Minister of favouring a few leaders of Dehra, who had no support base in the party. He claimed that he had revived the Congress in Dehra after it was carved out as an Assembly constituency in 2012. It was for the first time in the 2022 elections that the Congress got 19,000 votes in the Dehra segment.

Sharma said that the Chief Minister would be responsible if he suffered a heart attack. He also fainted while addressing his supporters in Dehra and was hospitalised. Sources said that the BJP was trying to contact Sharma. Meanwhile, Sharma did not respond to repeated phone calls.

Had lost to Hoshiyar Singh

Rajesh Sharma had contested the 2022 Assembly elections from Dehra on the Congress ticket but lost to Independent candidate Hoshiyar Singh, who is now the BJP candidate