Chandigarh: The ruling BJP on Monday nominated former chairperson of the National Commission for Women, Rekha Sharma to the Rajya Sabha from Haryana.
Rekha Sharma had resigned from NCW in August this year after a stint of about nine years.
The Rajya Sabha seat was vacated after Krishan Lal Panwar won from Israna assembly constituency (district Panipat) in the state elections held in October this year. Panwar is now Panchayati Raj minister in the Nayab Saini-government in the state.
Rekha Sharma’s nomination came as a surprise to many as the political circles were abuzz that the saffron party may choose a Scheduled Caste (SC) leader to replace Panwar, a Dalit leader in Rajya Sabha. Talks were also agog that some senior leaders including BJP state president Mohan Lal Badoli, former Karnal MP Sanjay Bhatia and BJP leader Kuldeep Bishnoin were among the forerunners for the nomination to the Rajya Sabha.
Nominated as an NCW member in 2015, Rekha Sharma was given additional charge of the commission chairperson in 2017. Earlier, she had also served as member, district consumer and redressal forum with Haryana government. She has also been associated with a non-governmental organisation “Haryana Mahila Utthan Samiti’’.
Married to a army officer, Rekha Sharma, 60, who is an alumnus of DAV College, Dehradun (Uttaraakhand), 60, graduated in political science, history and English literature and also has a diploma in marketing and advertising, fashion designing and higher diploma in computer system management.
At NCW, she particularly concentrated on gender sensitisation of the police personnel – the first points of contact for women victims of violence while she also worked on various issues of the female prisoners.
However, she was also often accused by opposition parties of going soft on the cases of the BJP-ruled states and also of not doing enough on the issues pertaining to violence against women in Manipur, the charges she vehemently denied.
