Vyapam scam left BJP red-faced, Shanta writes to Amit Shah

“We generally consider Shanta Kumar a very mature leader”.

Mr Kumar said the allegations against the party had not cropped up suddenly but had happened over a long period of time.

Senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar has released copies of a letter he wrote to party chief Amit Shah stating that the Vyapam scam, Lalitgate and chikki scam had dented the image of one-year old NDA government.

Kumar says the Vyapam recruitment scam in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh has “made us all bow our heads in shame”.

The party veteran also referred to Rajasthan and Maharashtra, without specifically mentioning the controversies surrounding Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje or minister Pankaja Munde, and sought the setting up of an ethics committee to act as a “Lokpal” to “keep a check on leaders in the government”. But it seems that he has been carried away by the propaganda of the Congress party.

“I have conveyed my conviction, my feelings, my pain to the party president”, he said. “He is not aware of the facts of the case”, Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

He recalled that, in the early fifties, after the formation of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the precursor to the BJP, a lot of emphasis was laid by its leaders on value-based politics.

“Fingers were pointed at us, from Rajasthan to Maharashtra”.

As the BJP preps for a stormy monsoon session of Parliament, closing ranks around its chief ministers and ministers caught in controversies, an 80-year-old lawmaker has caused the ruling party embarrassment by dashing off a stern letter to its chief Amit Shah.

He is believed to have written the letter on July 10, but posted it on Facebook just a day before the crucial Monsoon Session begins.

The Kangra MP also said that Modi’s Gujarat model of governance was an important factor for the overwhelming support the party received during the Lok Sabha polls a year ago.

He said the committees should have experienced and dedicated members who have never compromised on basic values and should function like a Lokpal (ombudsman) in the party at the national and state levels. “The party is paying price for it across the country today for this”, he said. Some people must have discussed them also, but because of a lack of a systemic process for addressing such issues, it was not possible to take any action in time.

“This was a historic victory under Narendra Modi because of his image and work in Gujarat”, he wrote.