Author: PTI
Publication: Rediff.com
Date: November 28, 2007
URL: http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/nov/28hppoll.htm
After the Congress preferred the son of a
cook of the Gandhi-Nehru family as its candidate for an assembly seat in Himachal
Pradesh's Solan constituency ahead of the experienced Speaker Dharampal Thakur,
the three-time legislator on Tuesday filed his nomination as an independent.
Thakur told PTI that he was fighting as an
independent from the Arki seat under "pressure" from Congress workers.
The move apparently points that rebellion
is brewing in the Congress with office bearers of all wings of the party in
Arki block resigning in support of Thakur.
"All Congress office bearers in Arki
block including me and those of NSUI, Seva Dal, Kisan Sabha and Mahila Congress
have send resignations to party president Sonia Gandhi [Images] and Chief
Minister Virbhadra Singh," Arki block Congress president Kanshi Ram Sharma
said.
Another Congress leader Ramesh Thakur has
served an ultimatum to the party to change its candidate Kailash Parasar from
Solan and provide him a ticket, failing which he threatened to file his nomination
as an independent.
The Congress has named Prakash Chand Karad,
son of cook Padam Ram as its candidate from Arki.
Padam Ram of Banjan village here served as
a cook first with late prime minister Indira Gandhi [Images], her son Rajiv
Gandhi and later with Sonia Gandhi while his father supplied food items to
the family since the time of first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
