Shanta Kumar Sharma (born 12 September 1934) is an Indian politician who was the 3rdChief Minister of Himachal Pradesh and a Union Minister in the Government of India. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was elected to the 9th Lok Sabha from Kangra constituency in 1989. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998, 1999 and 2014 from the same constituency. He has written a number of books. He is the first and only person not of a Rajput background who has served as the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh.[1]
Early life
Shanta Kumar Sharma was born to Jagannath Sharma and Kaushalya Devi on 12 September 1934 in Garhjamula, Kangra district, Punjab Province.[2]
Political career
His political career began in 1963 when he was elected as a Panch in the Gram panchayat for Garhjamula. He was subsequently elected as a member of the Panchayat Samiti in Bhawarna and then was president of Zilla Parishad in Kangra from 1965 to 1970.[3]
He was elected to the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 1972. He remained a member till 1985. He was re-elected to the House again in 1990 and continued till 1992. He became the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh in 1977.[4] He held the post till 1980 and came back to head the Government again in 1990 and stayed till 1992.[5] He had enforced "No Work, No Pay" policy during his second term as Chief Minister for strongly dealing with the striking government employees.[4] He was the Leader of Opposition in the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly from 1980 to 1985.[6]
He was elected to the 9th Lok Sabha in 1989 from Kangra. He was re-elected twice in 1998 and 1999. He was a senior minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government from 1999 to 2004.[4] He was Union Minister of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution from 1999 to 2002 and Union Minister of Rural Development from 2002 to 2004.[4][6]
He was married to Santosh Shailja in 1964.[10][11] He has three daughters Indu Sharma, Renu Mujumdar, Shalini Sathyan and a son Vikram Sharma.[12] His wife died in December 2020 due to coronavirus at Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda.[11] She worked as teacher in initial years but later quit her job and switched over to writing and social work among women and underprivileged sections and also wrote some books.[10]