BJP’s ‘chaiwala’ candidate from Shimla urban starts election campaign

A tea seller of Shimla City and a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sanjay Sood, kick-started his poll campaign from here on Saturday.
A 57-year-old graduate Sood, a tea-seller by profession, has been given BJP’s ticket for Shimla Urban constituency to contest the Himachal Pradesh assembly election. He filed his nomination on Friday. He has been grabbing all the eyeballs in the hill resort ever since he was given a ticket by the BJP. Sood has been the part of BJP since 1980 and has served in Mandal, Zila and also as a counsellor of Shimla city.
“I am thankful to BJP that they have shown faith in me as a small party worker. As you already said, the party has replaced the minister and I have been given the party’s candidate from Shimla Urban. As far as you are talking about the replacement of Minister Suresh Bhardwaj ji, he is our senior leader and the party wants to win all three seats from Shimla organizational district. He is a tall leader and will win the seat and that is the only reason the party has given him to shift to another Assembly constituency,” said Sanjay Sood.
“Right from childhood I have been serving as a ‘Swayamsewak’ and I have been in BJP since 1980 and have served in Mandal, Zila and also as counsellor of Shimla city. Party has given me this honour, I will not be able to pay back for this. I have been running this small tea shop since 1991, this is my workplace and source of livelihood. BJP has shown faith in me; it is possible only in BJP that a tea seller can get a ticket to contest an Assembly election. In this party, a worker gets the post from bottom to top,” added Sood.
“Now I am the party’s candidate from Shimla. My elder brother is here to look after the tea shop and other businesses here, it is our family business now they shall take care of the tea shop and other jobs as long as I am serving people and busy campaigning, he further added.
We have challenges and will face those; the priority will be the people’s priority and as a local and represented city as Councillor. Our government has done lots of development here. I shall carry forward as an MLA in days to come,” said BJP’s Chaiwala candidate.
“To get a candidature as a Chaiwala, it is possible only in BJP. The party workers and young leaders are hopeful that common workers are given importance in the party. It is a feeling of intimacy with the party and the young workers are fully energized after a tea-seller has been allotted a ticket to fight the Assembly election,” said a young BJP leader
Karan Nanda.