Former Himachal Pradesh BJP president and Minister Khimi Ram Sharma on Tuesday joined the Congress at the party’s national headquarters here in the presence of AICC in-charge of the State, Rajeev Shukla, and other senior leaders.
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The two-term MLA said it was his privilege to join the grand old party that helped the country attain freedom and that he would work hard to bring a Congress government in the upcoming Assembly polls in the State. He said people of the hill State were fed up with the BJP government because of rising unemployment, corruption and inflation and wanted a government led by the Congress party.
After the induction of Mr. Sharma, who also served as Deputy Speaker in the State Assembly, the Congress was upbeat and said more BJP leaders would join the party in the coming days.
Talking to The Hindu, AICC national spokesperson and former Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee president Kuldeep Singh Rathore said, “It is a breakthrough for the Congress as Khimi Ram Sharma ji is a veteran leader; earlier Suresh Chandel, a three-term BJP parliamentarian and ex-State president, had also joined the Congress. There is a strong probability that more leaders from the BJP will join us in the coming days.”
The Assembly elections are hardly four months away in Himachal Pradesh, which had not seen any incumbent government returning to power since 1993. Many in Shimla, who are following the political developments, contend that the signs for the BJP are not encouraging as it had lost all three Assembly by-elections and the prestigious Mandi Lok Sabha seat late last year.