New Delhi: Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Anand Sharma is set to contest in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra constituency — his debut general election and first poll foray in over 40 years.
The Congress’s announcement Tuesday means that Sharma, a four-time Rajya Sabha MP, will take on the BJP’s Himachal vice-president, Rajeev Bhardwaj. Himachal Pradesh will vote in the last phase of the elections, on 1 June.
Sharma, who made headlines last month when he opposed one of the party’s main poll planks — a caste census — first fought the 1982 Himachal assembly polls. That foray was unsuccessful, with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Daulat Ram defeating the Congressman by around 3,000 votes to win the Shimla assembly seat.
Since then, Sharma has come a long way. From being elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1984 and eventually becoming a Union minister and one of the Gandhi family’s closest confidantes to one of the party’s most vocal internal critics, there is much that the leader has seen in his political career. Here’s a lowdown.
Also Read: Tension in Haryana Congress over Raj Babbar getting Gurugram ticket. ‘Seniors completely sidelined’
Rajya Sabha member, Union minister in Manmohan Singh govt
Sharma was 31 when he was elected into the Rajya Sabha for the first time — just one year older than the minimum age for the House.
But it wasn’t until 2004 — on the back of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA) victory in that year’s general election — that he came into the spotlight. From being the junior minister of external affairs to the cabinet minister of commerce, industry, and textiles, he served in various capacities in the Manmohan Singh government.
It was also in 2004 that he got his second stint in Rajya Sabha, where he remained until 2022.
Sharma is also one of the founding members of the Congress’s student wing, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) and, early in his political career, has been the president of the Himachal Pradesh Youth Congress and chief of the Indian Youth Congress.
Controversies
In his letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on the day when the Congress Working Committee met in March, Sharma opposed the caste census — a poll promise that has the strong backing of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Sharma, himself a CWC member, said such a move would amount to endorsing “identity politics” and urged the party to “eschew the radical posturing of regional and caste-based organisations”.
“In my considered view, a caste census cannot be a panacea nor a solution for unemployment and prevailing inequalities. A fundamental departure from time-honoured policy on this critical and sensitive subject has major long-term national implications. As a party with an inclusive approach, the Congress should strive to reclaim its role as builder of national consensus and build a harmonious society,” said Sharma’s letter, dated 19 March.
This wasn’t the first time that Sharma had gone against the party line. He was among 23 senior leaders who, in August 2020, wrote to the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi calling for reforms in the party. This group eventually came to be known as Group of 23, or G23.
Over the past few years, Sharma has also stridently opposed some of the Congress’s other decisions. For instance, during the 2021 West Bengal assembly polls, he opposed the party’s decision to align with the Indian Secular Front, a regional party led by influential cleric Abbas Siddiqui. Taking it to social media, he criticised Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Congress’s leader in the Lok Sabha and chief of the party’s West Bengal unit.
Congress cannot be selective in fighting communalists but must do so in all its manifestations, irrespective of religion and colour. The presence and endorsement West Bengal PCC President is painful and shameful, he must clarify.
— Anand Sharma (@AnandSharmaINC) March 1, 2021
In December 2020, Sharma publicly lauded the Narendra Modi government for its handling of the COVID-19 crisis.
“Despite the challenge, we were not overwhelmed, we responded with grit as a nation,” Sharma had said then, speaking at the 93rd annual meeting of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). “This is a credit to our people, to our society, and to the government. We all got together as a nation to respond to a situation, which was beyond us. And equally, I would say that I am proud that this country is today in a position not only to manufacture, but also export ventilators, PPE kits, masks.”
Meanwhile, after the August 2020 letter, the leader found himself sidelined in the party. That changed last year when he was reinducted into the CWC.
Despite this, Sharma was believed to have been upset with the Congress for passing him over for the Rajya Sabha election in Himachal earlier this year. However, the party’s candidate, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, too lost due to cross-voting.
About Kangra parliamentary seat
Kangra Lok Sabha constituency has 17 Vidhan Sabha seats under it. Of these, the Congress holds 11.
In 2019, the BJP’s Kishan Kapoor beat the Congress’s Pawan Kajal by over 4.7 lakh votes.
Both Sharma and his opponent from the BJP, Bhardwaj, are Brahmins — the caste group that makes up about 20 percent of Kangra’s population, according to estimates by political parties.
Since 1998, the Congress has won the seat only once — in 2004, when its candidate, Chander Kumar, won by about 18,000 votes.
The Congress’s announcement means the party has declared its candidates for all four of Himachal Pradesh’s Lok Sabha seats. While Vikramaditya Singh will take on actor Kangana Ranaut in Mandi, Vinod Sultanpuri and Satpal Raizada have been fielded from Shimla and Hamirpur respectively.
Also Read: What’s the ‘nari shakti’ in 2024 polls? BJP has 1 in 6 women candidates, Congress 1 in 7