Cong rebel part of Omar govt while party sits out

Congress rebel Satish Sharma, who defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party's Rajeev Sharma by nearly 7,000 votes and relegated his former party's heavyweight Tara Chand to the third position in the Chhamb seat, has found a place in the Omar Abdullah government, representing the Jammu region in the dispensation.

The Independent MLA becomes a key face of the current government in the BJP-dominated Jammu belt.

Celebrations erupted in the Chhamb constituency after Sharma's inclusion in the National Conference government as he was the lone non-BJP member to have won in Jammu district, where the BJP took 10 seats.

Sharma, who was administered the oath of office by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, expressed his gratitude to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for ensuring Jammu's representation in the government.

"I have been blessed by Mata Rani. I thank the people and Omar Abdullah ji for bridging the gap between the two regions and granting the Jammu region more than expected," Sharma said.

He emphasised that this step has silenced those who claimed Jammu would not be represented in the government.

"We have several issues piled up over the last 10 years. Statehood is the biggest issue for which we need to come out on the streets," he added.

His supporters celebrated by dancing to music, bursting crackers, and distributing sweets this evening.

"He is the representative of the whole of Jammu in this government. He is capable to change the fate of this region. We have high hopes from him. We thank NC and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for inducting him into his cabinet," Khour resident Omkar Singh, who was also celebrating said.

The Congress party had won the Chhamb Assembly constituency in seven of the past nine elections since 1962, when party veteran Chajju Ram secured the seat for the first time.

Sharma, 42, left the Congress and contested as an Independent from the Chhamb assembly segment of Jammu, defeating BJP candidate Rajeev Sharma with a margin of 6,929 votes.

Tara Chand, who had won the seat three times earlier, finished third with 16,449 votes.

Satish Sharma comes from a political family. He is son of the late Congress leader Madan Lal Sharma, a two-term MP from the Jammu-Poonch constituency (2004 to 2014) and a three-term MLA (from Chhamb, 1983 to 1987, and Akhnoor, 2002-2004).

He also served as a minister.

Satish Sharma holds an MBA from the University of Wales and an LLB degree from the University of Jammu. His uncle, former minister Sham Lal Sharma, is currently a BJP MLA from Jammu North.

Interestingly, Madan Lal Sharma had supported Tara Chand for the Congress ticket from Chhamb in 1996, when the constituency was reserved for Scheduled Castes.

Sixty-one-year-old Tara Chand, who won the Chhamb seat in 2002 and 2008 but lost to the BJP in 2014, served as Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader, deputy chief minister, and speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly under the governments of Mufti Sayeed and Omar Abdullah.

He contested from his traditional Chhamb seat after it was recently de-reserved.

Annoyed by the denial of a ticket, Satish Sharma, coming from a Congress-loyalist family, resigned from the party and filed his nomination as an Independent.

Notably, the J-K Congress has said it will not join the council of ministers for the moment because it is 'unhappy' that statehood has not been restored.