The Hindu : Was Shanta Kumar made a scapegoat?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 08, 2003

National

National

Was Shanta Kumar made a scapegoat?

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI APRIL 7. There is a strong view in the Bharatiya Janata Party that the former Union Minister, Shanta Kumar, who resigned from the Cabinet on Sunday, has fallen victim to the party's effort to paper over the real reasons for its humiliating defeat in Himachal Pradesh — allegations of corruption and misgovernance against the Prem Kumar Dhumal Government.

Party sources said that throughout the election campaign, the Congress was successful in using video clips of the former party president, Bangaru Laxman, grasping notes (the Tehelka scandal) and graphic images of Mr. Dhumal's own "wealth'' — properties in Punjab, petrol pump for his son and nephew and a "list'' of 58 relatives of Mr. Dhumal who had allegedly been given government jobs.

On the other hand, the party leadership has consistently projected the Himachal defeat as the result of internal bickering but, as some party leaders point out, the number of rebel candidates in the Congress was larger than those in the BJP.

Another major factor that forced Mr. Kumar's ouster was groupism at the very top of the BJP leadership. From the time that Narendra Modi was made `prabhari' for Himachal (before he went to Gujarat as the Chief Minister) he was firmly in the Dhumal camp. Matters did not improve between them when Mr. Kumar stated at the height of the Gujarat riots that if he had been in Mr. Modi's place as Chief Minister he would have resigned. Many in the party believe that Mr. Modi has a hand in the treatment now meted out to Mr. Kumar, just as he had had a major role to play in the denial of party ticket to the now slain, Haren Pandya.

There are many in the BJP who believe that after the party's electoral victory in Gujarat, the senior BJP leadership had virtually become putty in Mr. Modi's hands. In the Pandya case, he had successfully defied the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K.Advani, and the party president, Venkaiah Naidu. Many feel that although Mr. Advani has now expressed regret for "injustice'' to Pandya, no disciplinary action has been taken against those who were responsible for that injustice.

It has been pointed out that despite repeated cries for "discipline'' in the party, the leadership has quietly forgiven those MLAs in Uttar Pradesh who had gone to the extent of meeting the Governor and threatening withdrawal of support to the Mayawati Government in which the BJP is a coalition partner. Yet, Mr. Kumar had been punished for a comment to the media "after the Himachal results were out.'' How could this have led to the BJP defeat, partymen are asking.

In Indore, the Prime Minister had himself said that elections was won or lost not because of speeches and campaigns but because of people's perception of the Government performance— a statement not very different from Mr. Kumar's.

But, as one person close to the BJP remarked: "the difference is that the Prime Minister said this before the elections — he was talking about the elections later this year — but Shanta Kumar made his comment after the elections.

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Union Minister Shanta Kumar quits

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