Anant Sharma

Anant Prasad Sharma (25 December 1919 – October 1988) was an Indian Railway Union leader, politician who became Minister of State for Industry, and Union Minister of the government of India. He was also the Governor of the State of Punjab and the State of West Bengal. He was a member of the 3rd Lok Sabha and 5th Lok Sabha from Buxar (Lok Sabha constituency).^[1] He was a member of the Rajya Sabha three times, in 1968–1971, 1978–1983 and 1984–1988.^[2]

Anant Prasad Sharma
Governor of West Bengal
In office 10 October 1983 – 16 August 1984
Appointed by	Zail Singh
Chief Minister	Jyoti Basu
Preceded by	B. D. Pande
Succeeded by	Satish Chandra (Acting)
Governor of Punjab
In office 21 February 1983 – 10 October 1983
Appointed by	Zail Singh
Chief Minister	Darbara Singh
Preceded by	Surjit Singh Sandhawalia (Acting)
Succeeded by	B. D. Pande
Minister of Communications
In office 2 September 1982 – 14 February 1983
Prime Minister	Indira Gandhi
Preceded by	C. M. Stephen
Succeeded by	Indira Gandhi
Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation
In office 8 June 1980 – 2 September 1982
Prime Minister	Indira Gandhi
Preceded by	Janaki Ballabh Patnaik
Succeeded by	Indira Gandhi
Minister of Shipping and Transport
In office 14 January 1980 – 19 October 1980
Prime Minister	Indira Gandhi
Preceded by	Janeshwar Mishra (Minister of State, I/C)
Succeeded by	Veerendra Patil
Minister of State for Industry
In office 9 August 1976 – 24 March 1977 Serving with Buddha Priya Maurya
Prime Minister	Indira Gandhi
Minister	T. A. Pai
Minister of State for Industry and Civil Supplies
In office 10 October 1974 – 9 August 1976 Serving with Buddha Priya Maurya and A. C. George
Prime Minister	Indira Gandhi
Minister	T. A. Pai
Personal details
Born	(1919-12-25)25 December 1919
Died	October 1988(1988-10-00) (aged 68)

Early years and education

Anant Sharma was born on 25 December 1919 to Ram Naresh Sharma, in his village named Gaudarh near Shahpur in Bhojpur District, Bihar (then in Shahabad District). He was born into a humble family. He studied at D.A.V. School.

Career

Sharma was a Railway Union Leader. Because of his career as a trade union leader, he was invited by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India,^[3] to run for the Parliamentary elections from the constituency of Buxar, Bihar. He ran and won in 1962 and again in 1971. In 1966, he became the President of Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC).^[4][5]

In 1974, he was made the Minister of State for Industry, Government of India,^[6] under the Prime Ministership of Indira Gandhi. Thereafter, he went on to become the Union Minister for Ministries including Communications, Surface Transport, Shipping and Civil Aviation in Government of India.^{[citation needed]} He was the Minister of Communications from 1982 to 1983.^[7] Shri A P Sharma became the Governor of the State of Punjab and the State of West Bengal in 1983.^[8][9]

Personal life

He was married to Tara Devi, and the couple had two sons.^[4] He died in October 1988.^{[citation needed]}

His eldest sons, Shri Arun Kumar Sharma, Shri Hriday Narayan Sharma, an India Railway officer was asked by Shri Rajiv Gandhi to contest the Bihar State Assembly Elections from Dumraon in 1990. He is settled in Delhi along with his family.^{[citation needed]}