BJP candidate Sudhir Sharma challenges CM Sukhu to contest Assembly bypolls from Dharamshala

Shimla: Former Congress minister and BJP candidate from Dharamshala assembly seat Sudhir Sharma on Tuesday challenged Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to contest from Dharamshala.

Sharma claimed that despite being in the government, the Congress does not have a candidate from Dharamshala, which along with five other assembly seats -- Sujanpur, Gagret, Lahaul-Spiti, Badsar and Kutlehar -- will go to polls on June 1.

Voting in the four Lok Sabha constituencies in Himachal Pradesh are also scheduled on the same day.

''As the Congress is not getting a suitable candidate to contest, the CM should contest from Dharamshala. It will make the contest interesting and the CM would also know the ground reality,'' Sharma said.

He also sought Chief Minister Sukhu's resignation over the matter saying ''under these circumstances, the CM should resign immediately on moral grounds as the Congress government would be out of power once the results of byelections are announced on June 4.'' Sharma is among the six Congress rebels who had voted in favour of the BJP Rajya Sabha nominee Harsh Mahajan on February 27. Two days later, these MLAs -- Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Rajinder Rana, Chetanya Sharma and Devinder Kumar Bhutto -- were disqualified for defying a party whip to be present in Vidhan Sabha and vote in favour of the government during the cut motions and budget.

Later, all of the six disqualified legislators joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and were given tickets from their respective assembly seats. The Congress has also announced the names of candidates for five assembly seats but the name of Congress candidate for Dharamshala assembly bypoll is yet to be declared.

Sharma said that the Congress workers are disillusioned with the chief minister's anti-people policies and dictatorial attitude and, therefore, the party is not getting a candidate to contest from Dharamshala.