Himachal Deputy Speaker To Challenge Sonia Gandhi’s Cook’s Son

Shimla: Living with the hare and hunting with the hound is what Himachal deputy speaker Dharam Pal Thakur has decided to do for the forthcoming election for the Arki seat in Solan district.

Denied a congress ticket, Dharam Pal Thakur retaining the deputy speaker’s position today filed his papers as an independent for the seat, chief electoral officer Manisha Nanda disclosed.

Instead of Thakur congress has decided to field Prakash Karad, a fresher and son of a former cook who had served in Sonia Gandhi’s household.

Viplove Thakur state congress president defended the party’s decision on Monday on the ground that Karad was given the ticket as he was the first reserved category candidate who had applied for a ticket from the open seat.

The congress election candidate list surprised many after Karad was nominated by the party high command and Dharam Pal Thakur, who figured in the all important list till the last moment, was dropped like a hot potato.

Prakash Chand Karad, the congress candidate from Arki is the son of Padam Ram of Banjan village. Padam Ram has been a family cook for the Gandhi’s since the days of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Ram was posted as a cook with the External Affairs Ministry in 1970 and retired only five years ago after having severed the 10 Janpath palette ever since he was engaged.

Kitchen loyalty by Ram has been rewarded with an election ticket for his 37 year old son, while Dharam Pal Thakur has filed his paper in order to protect his palette.

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5 Comments

  1. says: Avnish Katoch

    Well I dont know ground realities so dont know who is winnable candidate, but one thing I do know is that this is old royal mentality. I was reading yeterday only that Dharam Pal, pleaded in front of RK Dhawan but still no one cared. Here I am not for Congress but for a fellow Himachali or a Pahari as we are called in Delhi.. I mean Dharam Pal’s last 4 terms were nothing when compared to sycophancy of Congress or for that matter Netas of Delhi…as who cares for a Pahari. I have nothing bad against Karad, but he needs to see for his own selfish he has degraded a fellow Himachali. Cause when it comes to we Paharis in Delhi, we are non existent. Come on, be togethe, be a Team, dont let Delhi Netas decide your fates.

  2. says: ajay

    the pepole who advocates this pahari sentiment is not relavant in case of dharam
    pal thakur. as a deputty speaker he has brought a lot of schemes to arki area,is quite
    right. BUT the person whose name came in lots of bad….things is well known in the
    centre. he has humiliated a lot of staunch supporters of congress,because hard core
    people never do any buttering.dharampal has started believing in wrong people with
    bad image,so he paid the price.
    real winner is the guy who is with truth.

  3. says: SHARMA

    PAHARI’ – IS A TERM WHICH WE SHOULD FEEL PROUD TO BE RELATED TO
    PEOPLE WHOSE FATHERS AND FOREFATHERS LIVE IN THESE
    MOUNTAINS-
    GREAT HIMALYAS -PEOPLE ALL OVER WORLD MAY BE EXACTLY
    CAN LOCATE NORTH INDIA BUT IF U REFER THEM BY TELLING OR GIVING REFRENCE OF HIMALYAS YES THEY CAN……………… SUCH IS THE GREATNESS
    OF THESE MOUNTAINS……….
    YES WE ARE PAHARI…… WITH OUR LIFE , BLOOD & SOUL………

  4. says: Vivek Sharma

    If the only qualification of Karad is his being from a particular caste or his being the son of a cook in Gandhi family, I am just astonished and disappointed at the selection.

  5. says: rajeev

    Dharampal Thakur , nobody used to know this name when first time he got the ticket. Virbhadra singh gave him ticket 1st time on what basis nobody knows,,may be because he belongs to a particular caste.No congress worker at that time used to know him.

    ………….social justice………

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