In Shimla rural, it’s a battle between CM’s son and protege
SUNNI (SHIMLA): The voters in Shimla rural, who elected Virbhadra Singh as their first MLA in 2012, are virtually a divided house this time as the CM’s son— Vikramaditya—is pitted against his protege Pramod Sharma for the November 9 polls.
The Shimla (rural) segment, carved out after delimitation, first went to polls in 2012.
Virbhadra Singh, who was elected the first MLA of the constituency, has this time Singh shifted to the adjacent Arki constituency, to make way for his son Vikramaditya. Singh junior, 29, is sweating it out to defeat his father’s one-time loyalist Pramod Sharma, 50.
Virbhadra Singh, however, prefers not to say anything against his former protege Sharma, who is a professor of management at Himachal Pradesh University (HPU). But the young turk Vikramaditya Singh minces no words while attacking his electoral opponent.
Shimla rural has four candidates in the fray. Besides Singh and Sharma, two independents Mohan Das and Kushal Raj will be contesting from the seat.
The Congress is mainly banking upon the development works carried out by the state government while the BJP is calling the election a battle between royals and commoners.
“Chief minister Virbhadra Singh is our MLA and he has carried out all around development. Now Tikka Sahib (Royal prince) is contesting from here. Let us see if people support him,” said Lalit Sharma, a Shimla rural resident.
For Pramod Sharma, it is a familiar turf. Most of the rural areas of this segment were earlier a part of Kumarsain assembly segment, which were later fragmented and merged into Theog and Shimla rural. Pramod had contested two elections from Kumarsain and secured a good number of votes from these areas.
This time, when the BJP decided to nominate him as its candidate from the segment, Sharma revived his old team for campaigning.
Sharma, who once used to seek votes in the name Virbhadra Singh, hasn’t forgotten his old loyalties.
He hasn’t attacked his mentor’s son, Vikramaditya, even once during the campaign. Instead of targeting his opponent, Sharma has been asking people to vote for the BJP.
“I will be here with you,” he tells the public during his meetings.
“Pramod Sharma knows this constituency very well. We have voted him earlier. He is a good leader,” says Attar Singh, a tea vendor of Basantpur.
Since it was a home segment of chief minister Virbhadra Singh, the government carried out several development works in the constituency. Virbhadra Singh himself claimed in a rally that developmental work of ₹1,300 crore in the last five years. “I have worked for the people of Shimla rural and delivered more than I promised,” he said, in a public rally. Residents of Shimla rural also admit the developmental works in the segment.
“Raja Sahib has worked for us. Being a CM, he redressed our issues,” says Harish Sharma, a resident of Dhami. “It was the CM who carried out developmental works in the segment now the government is likely to change and Pramod Sharma is promising rule of common man,” says Gaurav Sharma, a local resident.