CHANDIGARH: Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), which is part of the ruling coalition in Haryana, sprung a surprise by immediately supporting Kartikeya Sharma's candidature for the Rajya Sabha polls in the state.
However, very few know that Kartikeya's elder brother Manu Sharma aka Sidharth Vashisth had played a key role in this. Highly-placed sources confirmed that Manu, who has been released from Tihar Jail after serving life term in connection with the sensational Jessica Lal murder case, has a very close association with the Chautala family, especially JJP supremo Ajay Chautala and his father O P Chautala, who had stayed with him in Tihar after their conviction in the JBT teachers' recruitment scam.
Manu, who was already undergoing a life sentence in Tihar when Ajay and his father were jailed in February 2013, had helped the Chautalas to adjust to the hardships of prison. He was their neighbour in Tihar jail for a long time and had even inspired Chautala Senior to continue his studies in the jail. The octogenarian leader had then started studying and passed Class X and Class XII examinations.
In Tihar, both Ajay Chautala and Manu Sharma had collected around Rs 10.50 lakh from fellow prisoners for the victims of the 2013 Uttarakhand floods. They had also donated Rs 1 lakh each for the purpose. "Manu Sharma and Ajay Chautala are close and perhaps it was the reason that Ajay Chautala was the first to back his brother Kartikeya's candidature for the Rajya Sabha. Manu Sharma cannot contest the election as he was convicted of murder. There are chances that the lone INLD MLA, Abhay Singh Chautala may also support Kartikeya because of his brother's proximity with his father during their jail days," said a senior political leader affiliated with the Chautalas for decades.
Kartikeya's surprise candidature has the Congress party in a tizzy, worried whether it would be able to ensure the victory of its candidate Ajay Maken with 31 MLAs. The party even sent its MLAs to Raipur in Chhattisgarh to ensure none of the MLAs attempts cross-voting on June 10. Another strength of Kartikeya Sharma is his father Venod Sharma, who has strong clout in the Haryana politics and knows how to change the number game. He is also close to Congress Legislature Party leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda and had been Hooda's crisis manager in the past. Kartikeya's father-in-law Kuldeep Sharma is also a senior Congress leader and has served as speaker of the Haryana assembly. The sources added that one of the Congress legislators, Kuldeep Vats too is closely associated with Kuldeep Sharma. However, Vats is with the Congress legislators in Raipur at present.
