Following the defection of rebel Congress MLAs to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), veteran leader and two-time Himachal Pradesh chief minister Shanta Kumar voiced his distress over the “state of politics” in the country. He lamented that his party, too, has been swept up 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.
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On Saturday, six Congress rebels, along with three independents, joined the BJP in New Delhi. These nine MLAs had previously voted in favour of the BJP during last month’s Rajya Sabha polls.
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The Congress party termed the move as part of a conspiracy by the BJP to destabilise 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.
In a statement issued on Sunday, deputy chief whip and Congress MLA Keval Singh Pathania asked the BJP to reconsider their colleagues’ advice.
The six former Congress MLAs, disqualified for disregarding party’s whip to be present in the assembly and vote in favour of the government during the cut motions and budget, include Sudhir Sharma (Dharamshala), Ravi Thakur (Lahaul and Spiti), Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur), Inder Dutt Lakhanpal (Barsar), Chetanya Sharma (Gagret) and Devinder Kumar Bhutto (Kutlehar). Additionally, three independents, Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur constituency), Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra) and K L Thakur (Nalagarh) have also joined the BJP after they resigned from the assembly.
Inputs from PTI
