 "5 things Shanta Kumar said about BJP and Narendra Modi")
Few days after his letter to the BJP president Amit Shah on the plethora of controversies that surround the party made national headlines, former Himachal Pradesh chief minister and party veteran Shanta Kumar said the BJP was a party with a difference where the difference has diminished and eroded.
In an interview to the India Today news channel, the former minister in the Vajpayee government expressed his views on a range of issues. Here are 5 reasons why he feels that the BJP has a lot to introspect as they get surrounded with controversies.
1. Speaking on the controversy arising out of the letter that he wrote to the party president expressing concerns about the Vyapam scam as well as the Sushma Swaraj – Vasundhara Raje Scindia nexus with former IPL chief Lalit Modi, the former CM said at least three ministers had congratulated him in the Central Hall of Parliament for that and the majority of the party was with him. Kumar said these ministers had said that his letter expressed feelings they share. They were themselves unable or scared to speak out. They said he had spoken on their behalf.
2. Kumar said the BJP should thoroughly investigate the Vyapam scam and Vasundhara Raje's links to Lali Modi. He suggested that Shivraj Singh Chouhan should resign. However, regarding Vasundhara Raje he felt the party should await a thorough investigation before asking for her resignation. Kumar had written that the Vyapam scam had dented the image of the NDA government and “made all of us bow our heads in shame”.
3. On Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, Shanta Kumar said if what she told the BJP Parliamentary Committee on Wednesday was correct her explanation was sufficient and there was no need for her to resign.
4. Speaking about the Prime Minister’s silence on the recent controversies he said the PM must speak out and added he was confident the PM would do so in this session.
5. Defending his interview to Rediff.com in April 2002 where he had said if he had been Narendra Modi he would have quit after the Gujarat killings, Kumar added that Gujarat killings had “shaken the conscience of any right-thinking and self-respecting man.” However, Shanta Kumar made it clear that just as he stood by his April 2002 comment that Modi should quit as CM of Gujarat, he also equally strongly believed Modi was the right man to be PM today.