Sukhram's son and Himachal Power Minister Anil Sharma quits Jairam Thakur's Cabinet

Days after former Union Telecom Minister Sukhram joined the Congress, his son and Himachal Pradesh Power Minister Anil Sharma has resigned from Chief Minister Jairam Thakur’s Cabinet. But he has not resigned either from the the state Assembly or from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Anil Sharma is the BJP lawmaker from Mandi Assembly segment which along with 16 other Assembly segments falls under Mandi parliamentary segment. 

Himachal Pradesh Power Minister Anil Sharma has tendered his resignation as minister. (file pic) pic.twitter.com/DZ6TqIAgbH

— ANI (@ANI) April 12, 2019

"Jai Ram Thakur gave some statements against me in my constituency yesterday (Thursday) and I am upset. This morning I decided to quit from his cabinet and submitted my resignation to his office," Sharma, who held the Power portfolio, told reporters.

Earlier, Anil Sharma had said that he would not campaign against his son Aashray Sharma, who has been fielded by the Congress from Mandi Lok Sabha seat.

His son Aashray was seeking a BJP ticket from Mandi but the BJP preferred to renominate sitting MP Ramswroop Sharma.

Subsequently Aashray along with his grandfather rejoined Congress on March 25 and the Congress fielded him from Mandi on Friday. 

Asked about Sukhram and Aashray Sharma quitting the BJP and joining the Congress, the state BJP President Satpal Singh Satti said, "Only Anil Sharma had joined the BJP. As far as my knowledge is concerned, Sukhram and Aashray never joined it. So the question of their quitting the BJP does not arise."  

Anil Sharma was HP minister during the Virbhadra Singh-led Congress governments in 1993 and 2012 but he along with his father Sukhram joined the BJP in October 2017, just before the last assembly elections.