"Faced successfully several challenges": Congress candidate Anand Sharma

Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh) [India], May 3 (ANI): Congress candidate from Kangra Lok Sabha constituency in Himachal Pradesh for Lok Sabha elections, Anand Sharma said that he has been a Congress worker for 52 years and that he has successfully faced several challenges.
Speaking with ANI, the Congress veteran said, "I have faced several challenges in life and successfully faced them. I have accepted this with humility...The entire organisation stands with Anand Sharma. I have been a Congress worker for 52 years now and I have shouldered all the responsibilities that have been given to me..."
"You will get to see my friends in every block of Kangra-Chamba. I have visited every area. I have served as the Chairman of the Congress in Himachal and then was called to Delhi by the party top brass," he added.
Replying to a query, he said, "It is very unfortunate. Himachal has been my 'Karambhoomi'. Shimla has been my 'Janambhoomi'. We have never said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is from Gujarat. He is not from Uttar Pradesh neither from Banaras (Varanasi). He is contesting from Banaras. Is Smriti Irani from Amethi? Was Hema Malini born in Mathura? We are from Himachal".
Sharma, who has mostly been in the Rajya Sabha during his political career, contested from Kangra in Assembly elections in 1982 when he was defeated by BJP's Daulat Ram.
The BJP has fielded Rajeev Bhardwaj from its bastion at Kangra, the seat which it had held since 2004.
Himachal Pradesh has four Lok Sabha seats: Hamirpur, Mandi, Shimla, and Kangra. The BJP had won all four seats in 2019.
The elections to the four Lok Sabha seats of Himachal Pradesh and by-polls to the six assembly constituencies that fell vacant with the disqualification of six rebel Congress MLAs will be held on June 1.
The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are being held in seven phases running from April 19 to June 1. The counting and results will be declared on June 4. (ANI)