Dr Onkar Shad to be Left candidate from Mandi

By: Hemant Sharma

Shimla: Himachal Pradesh CPIM & CPI today declared Dr Onkar Shad as their joint candidate for the Mandi Parliamentary seat, thus making it a three-party contest in an otherwise direct fight between the Congress and the BJP in the state as a whole. While the Congress has cleared the name of fomer Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh for the seat, the BJP has decided to field Maheshwar Singh.

Announcing the candidature of Dr Shad,  CPIM’s state secretariat member Panwar Tikendar Singh said they would try to form a Third Front in the state to defeat the Congress and the BJP.  He said the Congress and the BJP were the two faces of the same coin and the two parties have collectively brought the country to the brink of destruction. He stated that pressure exerted by the Left on the government from time to time has saved the country from economic collapse, as is being faced by the western  countries.

Dr. Onakar Shad’s profile

Dr Onkar Shad was born on 21st May, 1959, at village Shagagi of Ani tehsil in Kullu district. He cleared his schooling from Dalash and Khun in 1980 and after this did B.Sc from Rampur, followed by MSc, M.Phill and Ph.D from HPU. Dr Shad was elected the first president of Rampur college SCA  in 1979, and remained state secretary of SFI from 1983-1989. In 1989 he led the unit of youths from India at the World Youth Festival held in Korea. Dr Shad has been fighting for the cause of farmers in the state and has spearheaded many a struggle for enhancement of minimum support price of various agricultural products.