Venod Sharma

Venod Sharma
Member of Punjab Legislative Assembly
In office
1980–1985
Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha)
In office
10 April 1992 – 9 April 1998
Member of Legislative Assembly of Haryana
In office
2005–2009
In office
2009–2014
Personal details
Born (1948-01-10) 10 January 1948 (age 76)
NationalityIndian
Political partyHaryana Jan Chetna Party
Other political
affiliations
Indian National Congress
SpouseShakti Rani Sharma
ChildrenManu Sharma
Shubham Sharma
Kartikeya Sharma
OccupationPolitician
WebsiteOfficial website

Venod Sharma (born 10 January 1948) is an Indian politician, father of Manu Sharma and the founder of the Jan Chetna Party. He was a student leader and associated with INC student outfit NSUI. He made it into the political mainstream when he was elected as MLA from Banur in the 1980 Punjab assembly election. In the next assembly elections he lost to Kanwaljit Singh. He was formerly a member of the Indian National Congress, which he represented as a Member of Legislative Assembly (1980) from Banur, Punjab then Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha (1992–1998) and as a Member of Legislative Assembly (2005–2014) from Ambala City, Haryana.

Sharma was associated with the Indian National Congress (INC) for 40 years.[1]

In 1999, he resigned from the Indian National Congress during 1999 Indian general election after his son Manu Sharma was accused in the Jessica Lal murder case and he allegedly tried to bribe a witness.[2] Sharma returned into Congress in 2004 and won the 2005 Haryana Legislative Assembly election from Ambala city. He was re-elected from the same constituency in 2009.[3]

On 19 April 2014, Sharma was expelled from the Indian National Congress, for campaigning against it in the recent elections. On 2 May 2014, he resigned as a Member of the Haryana Legislative Assembly and on 23 June he founded his own political party, Haryana Jan Chetna Party (V).[4][5][6][7] It was alleged that his decision to quit was motivated by a desire to protect his corporate interests.[8]

Sharma and his wife, Shakti Rani Sharma, contested the 2014 Haryana state election and lost it to BJP candidates.[9][10] There were allegations of Poll Code violations by Sharma during the elections.[11]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "List of Former Members of Rajya Sabha (Term Wise)". Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  2. ^ Dinker Vashisht (20 January 2009). "Venod Sharma: The man who could have been CM". Indian Express. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  3. ^ "Expelled Cong leader Venod Sharma resigns as MLA". Zee News. 2 May 2014. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  4. ^ "Venod Sharma, 18 expelled from Congress". The Times of India. 20 April 2014. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  5. ^ Saini, Manveer (3 May 2014). "Venod Sharma resigns as Ambala City MLA". The Times of India. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  6. ^ "Expelled Congress leader Venod Sharma resigns as MLA". The Economic Times. 2 May 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  7. ^ "Ambala MLA Venod Sharma forms own political party". The Times of India. 23 June 2014. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  8. ^ "Venod Sharma's corporate interests behind his quit-Cong gameplan". Archived from the original on 7 March 2014.
  9. ^ "Modi tsunami helps BJP sweep Haryana elections". Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
  10. ^ Ninan, Sevanti (30 October 2014). "Media and politics in Haryana". Mint. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
  11. ^ "Poll code violation notice to Venod Sharma". The Times of India. 11 October 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2019.