Venod Sharma's resignation not yet received by Haryana assembly

CHANDIGARH: Haryana Assembly has not yet received the resignation of senior Congress leader Venod Sharma, who has resigned from the party.

"The resignation of Venod Sharma, an MLA from Ambala City assembly constituency in Haryana has not yet been received," Assembly's Additional Secretary Kuldeep Singh told PTI here.

A former union minister and senior Haryana Congress leader Sharma yesterday quit the party saying he was unhappy with certain matters, and is likely to join the Haryana Janhit Congress of Kuldeep Bishnoi.

Sharma known to be close to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda yesterday quit the party saying he was unhappy with certain matters, and was likely to join the Haryana Janhit Congress of Kuldeep Bishnoi.

"There were certain matters...," Sharma told PTI over phone late last evening adding he felt the ways of the party's functioning were "not quite democratic".

Sharma said he had forwarded his resignation to Congress President Sonia Gandhi adding "As of now, I have not taken any decision with regards to my future course of action."

The veteran Congress leader's quitting the party comes close on the heels of another party MP from Gurgaon, Rao Inderjit Singh parting ways to join BJP.

Sharma had given the first indication of parting ways with Congress when he skipped the 12-day long budget session of the Haryana assembly, which concluded here on Tuesday.

Meanwhile senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj tweeted saying, "I am strongly opposed to this. I have conveyed my views to Shri Kuldeep Bishnoi."

In another tweet she said, "I have conveyed to Shri Raj Nath Singhji in writing that BJP must not permit this."

HJC sources yesterday claimed that Sharma was likely to join the party and hold a joint press conference in Delhi soon with Bishnoi.

HJC is already in an alliance with BJP for the forthcoming Lok Sabha election and to contest from two seats - Hissar represented by Bishnoi himself and Karnal.

BJP is to contest the remaining eight seats - Ambala, Kurukshetra, Sirsa, Sonipat, Rohtak, Bhiwani-Mahendargarh, Gurgaon and Faridabad.