Shimla: Unable to persuade rebel congressmen from withdrawing from the electoral arena, the congress today decided to expel 7 party members and suspended one All India Congress Committee (AICC) member, who have entered the fray, opposing the party nominees.
Congress spokesman Kuldeep Rahtore said that Dharampal Thakur in Arki, Bamber Thakur in Bilaspur, Prem Kaushal in Mewa, Sanay Rattan in Jwalamukhi, Jagdish Sepaiya in Thural, Dhanvir Thakur in Chopal and Arvinder Kaur in Naudanta stand expelled from the party for six years. As Natha Singh who has entered his candidature for Dharmpur is an AICC member, he stands suspended and the party high command will take further action, he added.
It may be mentioned that Dharampal Thakur is the deputy speaker in the current assembly and had previously represented the Arki constituency for three consecutive terms. However, this time Prakash Karad, son of a former cook with Sonia Gandhi’s household managed to bag the ticket for the seat which has made Thakur contest the seat as an independent.
The congress spokesman said that Kashmir Singh at Ghumarwin and Adarsh Sood in Shimla at the persuasion of the congress leader have withdrawn from the contest and have been retained as party members.
Rathore said that BJP was seen to compromise with corruption as it had quietly assigned Suresh Chandel, the former MP who was expelled from the Lok Sabha in the cash for query scam, with party work.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads the team of media professionals at Hill Post.
In a career spanning over two decades through all formats of journalism in Electronic, Print and Online Media, he brings with him enough experience to steer this platform. He lives in Shimla.