Vijay Sharma (Politician)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Vijay Sharma

• Vijay Sharma is an Indian politician who is known for being elected as the Deputy Chief Minister Of Chhattisgarh along with Arun Sao in the Ministry Of Vishnu Deo Sai. He is a BJP member of the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly from the Kawardha Assembly constituency.

• Vijay’s political journey started when he was in college. In 1989, he led the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student union of RSS. During this time, he also served as the coordinator for the Kawardha Nagar unit.

  

• In 1992, he attended the All India Student Council in Raipur.

• In 1993, he stayed involved in the student organization. He formed a local student organization- Chhatra Sangharsh Morcha.

• He worked as an operator in Page Me pager company from 1996 – 1997.

• From 1998 to 2001, he worked in the operator department at Reliance Telecom Limited, Raipur centre.

• In 2004, he held the position of District President for Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, Kabirdham District.

• He serves as the General Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party, Chhattisgarh and has served as the President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, Chattisgarh.

• His political influence grew, and in 2011, he assumed the role of District General Secretary.

• He served as a member of the District Panchayat for two terms.

• In 2016, he became the State President of Yuva Morcha in Chhattisgarh.

• In 2018, Vijay contested the assembly elections against Congress minister Mohammad Akbar, where Akbar secured the seat with a lead of more than 59,000 votes, the largest margin in that election.

• In 2020, Sharma began his political journey as a member of the Zilla Panchayat in Kabirdham. Before that, his wife held the same role.

• He was arrested in connection with the 2021 communal violence case in Kawardha. After spending a few days in judicial custody, he was released on bail.

• In 2022, he planned a major movement to surround the Chief Minister’s House. He interacted with the public and collected numerous applications for the housing scheme. Following this movement, the BJP entered the electoral competition, and it was declared that once the state government was established, signatures would be added to the chief minister’s Housing Scheme file.

• In the 2023 assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominated him for the Kabirdham assembly seat. He emerged victorious by 39,592 votes, defeating the incumbent MLA and Congress minister Mohammad Akbar. He who was already being considered for the position of Deputy CM, took the oath as the Second Deputy Chief Minister on 13 December 2023 during the Chief Minister swearing-in ceremony.

  

• Ahead of the election, Sharma in an interview said,
  

  The biggest issue is the politics of Akbar due to which people are living in fear and terror. They (Congress) have misused the law though he is law minister. People have called me and said they will support me. The biggest public issue of Kawardha is its fight for self-respect and a war of liberation to end terror. It never saw curfew, use of tear gas. So many people went to jail while many others were lathi charged.”

• Before becoming a politician, he worked as a lecturer in three colleges, including an engineering college. From 1996 – 1998, he worked at Central College Raipur, Pragati College Raipur, and Engineering College Raipur.

• He has played cricket at the state level.

• He is a vocal supporter of Hindutva.

• His favourite quote is ‘इतनी वाक़िफ़ है मेरी क़लम मेरे जज़्बातों से, इश्क़ लिखना भी चाहूँ तो इंक़लाब लिखा जाता है।’