Former HP CM Shanta Kumar rues state of politics, targets own party as well

Shimla: BJP leader and two-time Himachal Pradesh chief minister Shanta Kumar has expressed his anguish at the state of politics in the country saying his party too has been swept in the wave.

"We built Ram Mandir but simply constructing the Ram temple will not help, we must also follow his principles," he told reporters recently, apparently referring to BJP.

Kumar's remarks come in the wake of a political turmoil in the state, with six Congress members breaking away and joining the BJP, an act which the Congress termed as part of a conspiracy by the BJP to topple the state government.

"I am surprised. The politics of enslaved India was for the country, but the politics of free India is for the chair. And I am pained that my party is also swept in the wave," said Shanta Kumar, who has also been a Member of Parliament from Kangra seat four times.

"Politics of principle is the need of the hour and I pray that the leaders of my country follow their values and standard of politics improves in the country," he added.

The six Congress rebels joined the BJP in New Delhi on Saturday, along with three independents.

The nine had voted in favour of the BJP in the last month's Rajya Sabha polls.

Deputy Chief Whip and Congress MLA Keval Singh Pathania on Sunday through a statement asked the BJP to think over their colleague's advice.

He also said that with the Congress rebels' switching sides, it has become clear that they were instigated by the BJP to topple the elected government.

The six former Congress MLAs, who were disqualified for defying a whip to be present in the assembly and vote in favour of the government during the cut motions and budget, were Sudhir Sharma (Dharamshala), Ravi Thakur (Lahaul and Spiti), Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur), Inder Dutt Lakhanpal (Barsar), Chetanya Sharma (Gagret) and Devinder Kumar Bhutto (Kutlehar).

The three independents are Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur constituency), Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra) and K L Thakur (Nalagarh).