Venod Sharma, Close Hooda aide, quits Congress

Even after he resigned from the Hooda government, Sharma continued to wield immense power due to his close proximity to the chief minister.

Sharma, a Brahmin leader, was union minister of state for food and supplies in 1995. He belongs to a family of staunch Congress loyalists from Punjab and Chandigarh.

In the past nearly two months, Sharma was keeping his distance from Congress affairs and also from Hooda. He did not attend party meetings and even failed to turn up for the budget session of the Haryana assembly.