Anand Sharma elected unopposed to RS

Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma was on Monday elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Himachal Pradesh. The only candidate for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from the state, which fell vacant on the expiry of BJP member Bimla Kashyap’s term, Sharma was declared elected by the Returning Officer and Secretary of Vidhan Sabha after the last date for withdrawal was over.

This would be fourth Rajya Sabha term of Sharma, who was elected to the Upper House twice from Himachal Pradesh in 1984 and 2004. In 2010, he was elected from Rajasthan.

Sharma said he was happy to return to the state and would raise all issues concerning it at the Centre. “The issue of special category state, share in various projects, release of grants, discrimination against the state by the Centre, connectivity and other issues will be taken up,” he said, adding that Himachal Pradesh being a hilly state deserves special treatment.

Sharma accused the Centre of damaging the secular fabric of the country by “branding every person who speaks against the government or RSS as anti-national” and said the government was playing a “dangerous game of polarising the people”.