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| Ashwani likely to join Congress shortly | | In touch with senior congress leaders | |
ET Exclusive
Jammu | Aug 29
Govind Chouhan
The lone Jammu State Morcha MLA from the Bishnah constituency Ashwani Sharma is likely to join Congress party shortly and has reportedly made known his intentions in this regard to his supporters and confident workers.
The lone State Morcha member who was earlier an active member of the Congress had resigned following refusal of mandate by the party during 2002 Assembly elections.
According to reliable sources Sharma was likely to join his old party with in a few days. Sources said that he has expressed his desire to rejoin the party and has already discussed the matter with his close associates and key workers. Sources said that a number of his supporters were also in favour of his joining the Congress party where he will have an active role to play especially at a time when the elections to the State Assembly are at the corner. The sources maintained that Sharma was in touch with several Congress top leaders and has openly given vent to his feelings to rejoin the party which he had left during 2002 Assembly elections. He made his intentions clear though secretary by attending majority of the functions organized by the senior party leaders. According to sources some days back he also had a secret meeting meet with a Congress MLA, who happened to be his old party friend and made his intentions clear about his rejoining the party.
Sharma though close to Harsh Dev Singh did not even utter a word in condemning the suspension of the latter from the Legislative Assembly and rather overtly maintained a cryptic silence thus making his intentions clear to part away with the opponents of the Congress.
It may be recalled that Ashwani contested two elections from the Bishnah constituency in the year of 1996 as an independent candidate and in the year of 2002 and won the State Assembly election on the ticket of Jammu State Morcha party by a margin of 18,000 votes.
Sharma being an old Congress activist was denied party mandate in 1996 Assembly election forcing him to contest as an independent but was defeated by Jagdish Raj Dubey of Congress. In 2002 elections also he was denied the party ticket forcing him to join Jammu State Morcha on whose ticket he won the elections from Bishnah constituency with a sizeable margin.
The sources said since there are several other strong contenders for the party mandate in the upcoming assembly elections and it would be worthwhile to see whether on joining the Congress party Ashwani could muster the support of the High Command in getting party’s mandate. If the insiders are to be believed his joining the Congress would be on certain considerations especially giving party ticket to him as he is considered very popular and favourite among the voters of the constituency which he is reported to have nourished during his present tenure as people’s representatives. Will he be able to cut the ice and get the Congress ticket would be worth watching, the sources maintained.
When this reporter talked to the State PCC Chief Peerzada Mohammed Sayeed on the subject, he expressed his optimism about Ashwani joining the Party soon.
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