SHIMLA: From foes to friends, former Union ministers Sukh Ram and Virbhadra Singh hugged out years of bitter political rivalry, yet again, in Delhi on Friday for giving an impetus to the Congress’s campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in Himachal Pradesh.The move means that Sukh Ram’s grandson, Aashray Sharma, could possibly contest the May 19 parliamentary polls in the state for the Congress from Mandi constituency — a seat represented by Virbhadra and Sukh Ram three times each. When he defected from the Congress to the BJP ahead of the 2017 assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh, Sukh Ram accused Virbhadra of attempting to hurt his family and being responsible for his exit.The compromise between the two comes at a time when the Congress is finalising candidates for the four parliamentary seats in the state. It has been able to zero in on candidates from Mandi, Shimla and Kangra, but is yet to find a face for Hamirpur, according to sources in the party.BJP, on the other hand, declared all candidates on March 23 — serving MPs Anurag Thakur and Ram Swaroop Sharma from Hamirpur and Mandi, respectively; former state minister Kishan Kapoor from Kangra and sitting MLA Suresh Kashyap from Shimla. Sukh Ram shifted back to the Congress as the saffron party overlooked Aashray as its Mandi candidate. His son, Anil Sharma, is still in the BJP and is a minister in the BJP state government.A source in the Congress said Virbhadra, whose wife Pratibha Singh is also a two-time MP from Mandi, has considerable clout in the constituency and this was why a compromise was reached between the two senior leaders.Sukh Ram met Virbhadra at the ex-CM’s residence in Delhi. Burying their past differences, both leaders met in cordial atmosphere and also hugged each other, they added.In Kangra, the Congress could field OBC leader Pawan Kajal. Former ministers Sudhir Sharma and G S Bali are also in the ticket race form the seat. In the assembly elections, Sharma and Bali had lost from Dharamshala and Nagrota assembly constituencies, respectively, and their rivalry was blamed for this. In Shimla, Congress is expected to announce Solan MLA Col Dhani Ram Shandil as its candidate. Col Shandil has been elected Shimla MP in 1999 and 2004.In Hamirpur, rivalry has made candidate selection tough. While one faction is pushing for Haroli MLA Mukesh Agnihotri’s name, then other is backing former state president Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. Dissident BJP leader Suresh Chandel is also seeking the Congress ticket from here. Virbhadra is said to be in favour of Abhishek Rana, son of Sujanpur MLA Rajender Rana, as the candiate.Though the party launched its ‘Mission 2019’ poll campaign last year to win all four parliamentary seats in the state, the Congress has been late in announcing candidates and this has started to affect campaigning, said sources in the party. Even the compromise between Virbhadra and Sukh Ram has happened so that the party could have a better chance of winning from Mandi, said the source.The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on the other hand, has been trying to calm down leaders unhappy with the choice of candidates. Former MLA and MP Maheshwar Singh and Kargil war hero Brig Khushal Thakur (retd) were unhappy over the party overlooking them for the ticket from Mandi. Because of this, CM Jai Ram Thakur met them during his campaign in Mandi constituency.

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