Virbhadra-Sukh Ram rivalry lives on as sons spar in Mandi

Pratibha Chauhan

Shimla, May 21

The political rivalry between erstwhile Congress stalwarts of Himachal politics — six-time Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and former Telecom Minister Sukh Ram — lives as their sons slug it out in the Mandi Lok Sabha battlefield.

The political rivalry goes back to 1993 when Sukh Ram, despite having the backing of the party high command and then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, failed to become the Chief Minister as the “Raja” enjoyed the support of the majority MLAs. Sukh Ram went on to form his own party after being expelled by the Congress over the 1996 telecom scam. In the 1998 Assembly polls, however, Pandit-ji, as Sukh Ram was popularly known, took his sweet revenge when he prevented Virbhadra Singh from becoming the CM again.

Congress’ Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh, son of three-term MP Virbhadra Singh, is now up against BJP’s Kangana Ranaut, both of whom have been locked in a war of words lately.

Sukh Ram’s son Anil Sharma, the sitting BJP legislator from Mandi (Urban), has upped the ante by hitting out at not just Vikramaditya but also Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh, a three-term MP from Mandi and the state Congress president.

“It’s a do or die battle with the Virbhadra family, with whom we have had decades old political rivalry. Virbhadra always created hurdles in the development of Mandi, which remained my father’s top priority. People have realised this and once and for all, they will seal their political fate,” he asserts.

Sukh Ram’s grandson, Ashray Sharma, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Mandi on the Congress ticket, too is leaving no stone unturned to target Vikramaditya and his family. “Both mother and son have never lost out on the opportunity of hitting out at their own government. Their politics is only guided by self-motive and personal gains, and Mandi is nothing more than a centre of political tourism for them,” claims Ashray.

After being ousted from the Congress, Sukh Ram had floated the Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC), which won five seats in the 1998 Assembly polls. To prevent the Congress, which got 30 seats, from forming the government, the HVC lent support to the BJP having 32 seats. The BJP-HVC alliance formed the government with support of Independent MLA Ramesh Dhawala.

It’s a different matter that Ashray himself parted ways with the BJP to join the Congress after being denied the ticket from the Mandi LS seat in 2019. The Congress fielded him, but he lost to BJP’s Ram Swaroop. Now he is back in the saffron fold.

Virbhadra Singh, who won nine Assembly and five Lok Sabha elections, passed away on July 8, 2021, at 87, while Sukh Ram died on May 11, 2022, at 94 years.