Former Union minister Sukh Ram has put the political future of his son and BJP minister Anil Sharma at stake by joining the Congress, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said on Thursday.
Addressing a BJP workers' meeting at Anil Sharma's hometown in Siagaloo in Mandi district, Thakur said he had no idea where the power minister in the BJP government in the state was.
Sukh Ram along with his grandson Aashray had recently joined the Congress after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) refused to field the latter from the Mandi parliamentary seat.
Soon after Aashray got a Congress ticket from the seat, his father and Mandi MLA Anil Sharma announced that he would not campaign against his son.
Speaking at the rally, Thakur advised Anil Sharma to deal with his frustrations and stop issuing illogical statements in public.
"I respect Sukh Ram as a veteran politician but now the circumstances have changed and he should have put his ambition to see his grandson as MP on hold for some time," the chief minister said.
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"I was expecting him to be friend, guide and motivational power for the BJP's win in the Lok Sabha elections but he has shifted his loyalties and put his son Anil Sharma's future at stake," he added.
The Mandi seat was represented by Sukh Ram from 1962 till November 1984, when he was elected to Lok Sabha and his protg D D Thakur won the seat in 1990.
In the 1993 Assembly poll, his son Anil Sharma won from Mandi but after Sukh Ram's name surfaced in the Telecom scam, he was expelled from the Congress and formed Himachal Vikas Congress which entered into a post poll alliance with BJP and joined the government.
Thakur further said Sukh Ram should have asked his grandson to begin his political innings from the grass-root level but the haste to reach the top will destroy his political prospects as the BJP will win Mandi and end the political legacy of Sukh Ram.
The sitting BJP MP from Mandi Ram Swaroop Sharma will win the seat with a record margin, the CM said, adding that the people of Mandi know him as a down-to-earth person.
The chief minister said only Prime Minister Narendra Modi could have given a befitting reply to Uri and Pulwama attacks by launching surgical and air strikes against Pakistan.
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