Himachal CM gets foot sprain while campaigning

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Thursday got his ankle injured while campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections.

Speaking at a public meeting here, he said light heatedly: "This setback (foot sprain) will again teach me a lesson."

Saying that he was addressing the public for the first time seated on a chair, he said: "The doctor has advised me not to set foot on the ground. But I am not taking rest."

The Chief Minister, who is leading the BJP campaign, reached the public meeting venue by riding pillion on a scooter.

The Mandi Lok Sabha seat has been a traditional Congress bastion and it lost it for the first time in 1977.

Congress greenhorn Ashray Sharma, who learnt politics for years from his father Anil Sharma, a Cabinet Minister in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, is in the fray from Mandi. He is pitted against the BJP's first-time MP Ram Swaroop Sharma.

Himachal Pradesh will vote for four Lok Sabha seats on May 19.

--IANS

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