The Hindu : Action against Shanta Kumar likely

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 04, 2003

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Action against Shanta Kumar likely

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI MARCH 3. The Bharatiya Janata Party's anger against the Union Minister, Shanta Kumar, for blaming lack of performance by the Dhumal Government in Himachal Pradesh for the party's rout in the recent Assembly elections is palpable. And there is every indication that some kind of "action" will be taken. At least he may be asked to publicly repent for his indiscretion.

Already there is talk of dropping Mr. Kumar from the Cabinet, not immediately, but at a convenient time. The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, did not rule this out. Asked today whether Mr. Kumar, a former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, would have to pay with his Cabinet job for his remarks, he said: "Itna bada phaisla, kya main aise le sakta hoon? (Can I take such a major decision just like this?)". Two days ago, the party president, Venkaiah Naidu, had indicated that the party's views were different from those expressed by Mr. Kumar, and today, the party spokesperson, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, said: "we are not in agreement with his views.''

The fact is many in the party believe Mr. Kumar to be responsible for the number of rebel candidates in the field. Although the party had earlier claimed that the differences between Mr. Kumar and Mr. Dhumal had been sorted out with Mr. Kumar accepting Mr. Dhumal's leadership in the State, the fact is that the two have been quarrelling for the last five years.

It is also obvious that unlike Mr. Dhumal, Mr. Kumar does not have powerful godfathers in the party. Mr. Dhumal has the backing of the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, the party president, Venkaiah Naidu, the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, and the Union Law Minister, Arun Jaitley. The defeat in Himachal Pradesh is being seen as a setback to Mr. Jaitley, who enjoys the confidence of Mr. Naidu and spent hours vetting the candidates' lists. With Mr. Naidu's blessings, Mr. Jaitley continued to play an active part in the planning for the elections even when he left the party post to return to the Government. The official reason: he had been associated with the election strategy from the beginning.

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