Chandigarh, March 5
Ambala legislator Venod Sharma, a Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s confidant, has resigned from the Congress. He is expected to make an announcement about his career plans at a rally in Kurukshetra on Sunday.

Sources say Sharma, who had lately distanced himself from the Congress, will make an announcement at the conclusion of his “Jan Chetna Mahayagya” on March 9. The event will mark the culmination of Sharma’s four-month awareness yatra that has taken him to all parliamentary constituencies in the state.

Ironically, during the yatra, he had highlighted the achievements of the Hooda government and sought people’s views to improve governance. Sharma confirmed he had sent his resignation to party president Sonia Gandhi.

Various theories are doing the rounds, one being that Sharma is aiming to get a BJP ticket to contest elections. Sharma’s inclusion in the BJP appears unlikely since there is opposition in the party on bringing in outsiders.

Sources say Sharma is keen on contesting from Karnal that has a considerable Punjabi and Brahmin population.

It is being said he may contest on the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) ticket.

The HJC has finalised seat-sharing agreement with the BJP. The HJC will contest Hisar and Karnal seats, leaving the remaining eight seats in Haryana to the BJP.

It, therefore, appears certain that Venod Sharma would be the HJC nominee for Karnal seat.

A formal announcement in this regard is expected to be made jointly by Bishnoi and Sharma in Delhi on Friday.

There was a time when Sharma and former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal were close before they fell apart. Bhajan Lal’s son Kuldip Bishnoi heads the HJC.

The HJC and the BJP have entered into a pre-poll alliance for the forthcoming poll. Sharma had expressed his desire to be allotted a Congress ticket either for Karnal or Sonepat seat. But the decision of the party high command not to give ticket to any sitting MLA ruled out that possibility. Panipat MLA Birpal Shah, in his recommendation as member of the Congress Election Committee, had recommended Sharma’s name for the Sonipat seat where the sitting MP Jatinder Malik said he would not re-contest.

The differences between Hooda and Sharma had become visible when the latter refused to accept his inclusion in the Congress Election Committee and submitted his resignation as member of the committee. Despite Hooda’s insistence, Sharma did not come for the committee meeting in Chandigarh. He later stated that the candidates should be selected on the formula given by Rahul Gandhi wherein local party men should choose the candidates rather than a name being forced on them. A former Union minister, Sharma is a wily politician and one of the few leaders who has been an MLA from both Punjab (Banur) and Haryana (Ambala City). He was the front-runner for the Chandigarh parliamentary seat. But his chances were spoiled in view of his son’s involvement in the Jessica Lal murder case.