Shanta hits out at state BJP leaders

DHARAMSHALA: Once again exposing the widening fissures within Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Himachal Pradesh, party national vice-president and Rajya Sabha member from the state Shanta Kumar on Sunday overtly spoke out in favour of Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP) leaders, maintaining that the state BJP leaders under the influence of power and wealth have turned a blind eye to internal matters of the party.
Addressing a press conference here, Shanta Kumar said, "Our leaders are under the influence of their acquired wealth and power and therefore have lost consciousness about party matters. He said that merely talking about 'mission repeat' will not bring back the party into power as most of our senior workers have left the party."
"I cannot forget the contribution of Maheshwar Singh, Shyama Sharma, Radharaman Shashtri and Mahender Sofat towards our party. Today they have left the party and without them the party is unlikely to come back to power," he added. He said Himachal is comparatively an easy turf for the party but there is still neck to neck competition with the opposition.
"Mahender Sofat has established the party in Shimla, Solan and Sirmaur during 1990s. He left his business on my request and worked hard for the party. At that time he won 8 out of 10 seats, so how can I forget him?" he added. Shanta said some leaders were facing humiliation and isolation in the party just because they were close to him.
"I have been in politics for the past 50 years when some of the present leaders were not even born. But now they are talking about petty politics on division of districts and other matters. I am not being considered on any matter," Shanta said.
Terming corruption as the main issue, Shanta Kumar stated, "Our party was the party of values but today I would say that we have started compromising, which is most unfortunate moment for party workers and for me too."