After uproar, Congress drops Sunil Sharma from Jaipur City Lok Sabha seat
Following a political uproar over its choice of candidate for the Jaipur City Lok Sabha seat, the Congress on Sunday dropped Sunil Sharma and fielded former Rajasthan Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas in his place.
Mr. Sharma has been associated with Jaipur Dialogues, a rightwing forum that is known to target and ridicule the Congress leadership and target minority communities.
In a fresh list of three names on Sunday, the party fielded Mr. Khachariyawas from the seat. The party also named Murari Lal Meena from the Dausa seat in Rajasthan. The third candidate, Pratibha Dhanorkar, has been given a ticket for the Chandrapur seat in Maharashtra.
On Saturday, Shashi Tharoor, senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram, had questioned his party’s choice from Jaipur on social media. “He must have undergone some sort of Pauline epiphany on the road to 24 Akbar!” he said in a post on X.
Refutes allegations
While refuting the allegations, Mr. Sharma said he was in no way related to the YouTube channel of Jaipur Dialogues or its X handle. He denied being a director of Jaipur Dialogues and asserted that he had severed ties with the platform long back. “This is completely fake news and false propaganda being floated to diminish the prospects of the Congress party,” Mr. Sharma said.
The Jaipur City seat is considered a stronghold of the Brahmin community, which played a role in the selection of Mr. Sharma. However, his Brahmin identity was overshadowed by allegations of his association with Jaipur Dialogues, as he was a regular participant in conclaves organised by the platform.
“Jaipur Dialogues YouTube channel invited me to speak on various social issues as per the vision of Congress. I have advocated the noble traditions of India and always opposed religious narrowmindedness strongly,” he said.