I was against Sukh Ram’s entry into BJP: Shanta

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, April 12

Former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar today said that he was against the entry of Sukh Ram and his son Anil Sharma into the BJP.

While addressing a meeting of female workers of the party here today, Shanta Kumar said during the last Assembly elections some leaders of the party had asked him to call Sukh Ram to persuade him to join the BJP. “However, I had said straight no to the proposal”, the veteran leader said.

“I am against the leaders switching parties near elections for money or getting power as this was the genesis of all kinds of corruption,” Shanta Kumar said.

Shanta Kumar further said that he was forced to use harsh words against Sukh Ram as he was indulging in political opportunism. This is for the fifth time that the veteran leader has switched sides. He switched over to the BJP to make his son a Cabinet minister and now has gone back to the Congress to make his grandson an MP.

Shanta Kumar alleged that he had learnt that the father-in-law of Sukh Ram’s grandson was claiming that he would spend Rs 100 crores so that Ashray Sharma won the parliamentary election. It is only such things that are the root cause of all the corruption, he said. Shanta Kumar narrated an anecdote of his political career that amused many. He said that when he started his political career in 1950s he had to contest for the post of vice chairman of Kangra Zila Parishad against an astrologer Bidu Ram Joshi. Bidu Ram Joshi was a famous astrologer and even the Chief Minister of joint Punjab Pratap Singh Kairon used to visit him.

“Everyone warned me against fighting against Bidu Ram Joshi. However, I fought and won the election. My victory affected the astrology business of Bidu Ram Joshi badly as people realized that someone who couldn’t ensure his own victory through astrology could ensure the same for others,” said Shanta Kumar.