Under relentless attack by ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after his son Ashray Sharma got Congress ticket from Mandi Lok Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh, Himachal Power Minister Anil Sharma on Friday resigned from Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur’s cabinet.

“I am upset over Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur’s remarks against me in Mandi Assembly segment yesterday. Referring to me, the CM said his minister is cutting grass, is missing from poll scene and that he will do surgical strike. There is no point staying as minister in Jai Ram government with such a humiliation and with no faith left,” Anil Sharma told The Statesman.

Sharma, who is the son of former Union Minister Sukh Ram, however added that he continues to be in BJP and a member of Legislative Assembly but he will not campaign in the elections anywhere now.

His father, too, joined Congress with Ashray.

“Let BJP decide, if it wants to throw me out. I will not quit BJP or MLA ship,” Sharma said.

Sharma said that it is not his fault if his son got a Congress ticket from Mandi.

“I had clearly told the CM and party that I can’t campaign against my son in Mandi Parliamentary constituency and that BJP should give me poll duty elsewhere. However, they insisted that I should campaign in Mandi only. Now that I have resigned as minister, I will not campaign anywhere in the state in these Lok Sabha polls,” Sharma said.

Sharma, 63, was in a fix after his father and his son joined Congress. Sources said Sharma had even started vacating his official residence (of minister) few days back in Shimla. He had earlier said he would not leave cabinet berth unless CM asks him.

There is no official confirmation of the acceptance of his resignation. State BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti said he had no clue.

The Chief Minister had on Thursday addressed a poll meeting of workers in Kotli, Sukh Ram’s native place, and had launched a scathing attack on the former Union Minister saying that for him “family interest is supreme” and that his “era is over now”.

“Sukh Ram is a senior leader, but he should understand now that his era is over. It is unfortunate that Sukh Ram is giving more precedence to his family than the prestige of Mandi and people of Mandi. At his juncture of life, Sukh Ram in his ‘pautra moh’ (love for grandson) is putting the political career of his son and grandson, both, in trouble,” the CM said.

Jai Ram said some Sukh Ram supporters from Delhi have been giving baseless statements, but they do not know that people of Himachal understand the language of peace, not threats.

“Sukh Ram has claimed that it is because of him that BJP got historic victory in Mandi in Assembly polls of 2017. The results of Lok Sabha polls in 2019 will break the false perception,” he said.

Jai Ram had also asked Anil Sharma, who had not been campaigning, to come out of home and work for BJP in Mandi Parliamentary constituency.

What further triggered a deterioration of relations between the two leaders was a poster circulated on social media by some unknown sources which projected Sharma as campaigning for BJP with a mention that he would neither leave the cabinet berth nor the party. Sharma lodged a complaint with the Police over the poster. The BJP denied having brought out any such poster.

Sharma was a minister in the previous Congress government and had switched to BJP at the eleventh hour in 2017 Assembly polls. The BJP had then welcomed him, giving him ticket from Mandi while ignoring its own cadres.

Sharma’s career had been linked to his father and he has been shuttling between Congress and BJP at his insistence only.

Sharma was a minister in Virbhadra government twice (from 1993-1996 and 2012-2017) and was Rajya Sabha MP from 1998 to 2004. At the time Sukh Ram’s Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC) had supported the BJP to form a government after the 1998 Assembly polls.