The political situation in Karnataka remains tense, and every move made by political parties and their members is being heavily scrutinized. Late on Thursday night, the Congress and the JD(S) herded their MLAs into buses and sent them to Hyderabad in an efforts to keep their flock together against the BJP.
The buses belong to one Sharma Transports, and it is no coincidence that the Congress and JD(S) decided to ferry their MLAs in buses run by this service.
Sharma Transports was founded by late Congressman Dhanraj Parasmal Sharma.The company facilitates passenger commutation and also cargo services across major cities in south India.
According to the travel agency's website, DP Sharma "was renowned as Steward of Bangalore Turf Club appointed by the Government of Karnataka. Shri DP Sharma introduced the passenger transport during early 1960s, when the country was dreaming about holistic development in all sectors of life".
According to a News18 report, DP Sharma hailed from Rajasthan and was active in the party circles in the 1980s. Around this time, he launched the Sharma Transport, running luxury buses across the the state.
In the 1980s, DP Sharma also tried his luck in politics. He contested in the Lok Sabha elections twice from the Bangalore South constituency on a Congress ticket, but lost both times. In the 1980 General Elections, DP Sharma gave a tough fight to the JNP's TR Shamanna; he polled 45.13% votes against the latter's 45.76% votes. In 1998, he lost to BJP's Ananth Kumar by a margin of over 1.8 lakh votes.
After his death in 2001, the business was run by his son, Suresh Sharma, who was also a Secretary of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. Around this time, senior Congress leader and former Energy Minister DK Shivakumar allegedly became a benami partner in the transport business, as per a Catch News report.
Suresh passed away in 2016 and currently his brother Sunil Kumar Sharma is in charge of the business.