‘Tara aur Sitara’: Social media campaign targets rebel Himachal MLAs Sudhir Sharma, Rajinder Rana for being ‘greedy’

Both critical of Chief Minister Sukhu, regularly posting Facebook messages against him

TNR Desk

Amid the political crisis within the Himachal Pradesh Congress, rival factions have been sparing no effort in leveraging social media to present their perspectives and target their opponents.

Disqualified rebel Congress MLAs Sudhir Sharma from Dharamshala and Rajinder Rana from Sujanpur have emerged as prominent voices against Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, consistently sharing critical messages about him on their Facebook profiles.

In the latest development, a 20-second video clip has gained significant traction on various social media and messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and X. The video counters Sudhir and Rana, accusing them of greed.

The voice heard in the clip belongs to late actor Om Puri, and the dialogue is originally from the comedy film ‘Ek Aur Ek Gyarah’, starring Bollywood actors Sanjay Dutt and Govinda. However, the creator of the video reel has replaced Sanjay Dutt and Govinda with Sudhir and Rana.

“Ye hain Tara aur Sitara… Beghar, garibi aur akelepan ki zindagi se tang aakar in done ne ek jodi banayi…. Bas, fir kya tha, chal pade chori aur thagi ke rastey par, ye samajhkar ki ab wo is duniya ko jeetkar apni ek khoobsurat duniya banayengey (Introducing Tara and Sitara: Homeless, destitute and weary of their isolated existence, they found solace in each other’s company, forging a bond. Together, they embarked on a journey of deception and fraud, envisioning a life of luxury and success),” plays the background voice as the two rebel MLAs are shown enjoying food and embracing each other.

Incidentally, of the six disqualified rebel Himachal Congress MLAs, Sudhir and Rana have been regularly posting messages on Facebook that are critical of Chief Minister Sukhu, questioning his “dictatorial” way of functioning and the “isolation” of elected Congress representatives. The other rebels are Chaitanya Sharma (Gagret), Ravi Thakur (Lahaul-Spiti), Inder Dutt Lakhanpal (Barsar) and Davinder Bhutto (Kutlehar).

On Tuesday (March 12, 2024) as well, Sudhir and Rana had put out posts on Facebook to target CM Sukhu over the FIR lodged in Shimla against Chaitanya’s father as well as Independent MLA Ashish Sharma on allegations of horse-trading and attempts to destabilise the state government.