BJP horse-trading shameful: Shanta in his book

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Ravinder Sood

Palampur, February 25

Veteran BJP leader and two-time former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Shanta Kumar has said he felt ashamed to see his party allegedly getting involved in the sale and purchase of MLAs to bring down elected governments.

Unprincipled politics won't do

The BJP has become power-hungry. Governments can be toppled fraudulently with money power, but it won't bring about the desired social change. — Shanta Kumar, HP Ex-CM

Strict laws needed

If the political scenario has to be changed, the PM must bring in stringent laws to curb the use of black money in elections. — Shanta Kumar, HP Ex-CM

Cautioning the BJP against adopting "unprincipled" politics, he says, "The people made the BJP the world's largest party due to its idealism, but now it has become power-hungry." Shanta, a member of the BJP's sidelined "Marg Darshak Mandal", has made the observations in his autobiography "Nij Path ka Avichal Panthi", released two days ago.

"We all join politics to change the society, not governments. 'Chal kapat ki rajneeti se sarkarein toh badli ja sakti hain, par samajh nahin' (Governments can be toppled fraudulently with money power, but it won't bring about the desired social change), he writes, attributing the remarks to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He says he has always sworn by the politics of principles and wished his party, "which has the capacity to change Indian politics", doesn't deviate from the politics of principles.

Incidentally, Shanta's remarks on the "BJP's horse-trading" have come at a time when the Congress has been accusing the saffron party of toppling its government in Puducherry. Known for speaking his mind even if it meant paying a heavy price, Shanta's autobiography has kicked up a political storm with the Congress demanding a probe.

A writer and a poet with several books to his credit, he claims he has paid a heavy price for calling a spade a spade, but "had no regrets about it".

If the political scenario has to be changed, writes Shanta, Prime Minister Narendra Modi must bring in stringent laws to curb the use of black money in elections and keep criminals out of politics.

Shanta's book was expected to unravel several truths, one being "he lost his chair in the Union Cabinet in 2003 for unearthing a Rs 300 crore scam when he was the Rural Development Minister". "I brought the facts to the notice of the then PM Vajpayeehellip;. instead of initiating action against the culprits, I was forced to step down," he writes.

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