National

Two Himachal Ministers resign

By Kanwar Yogendra

SHIMLA JAN. 20. Two Ministers of the Dhumal Cabinet, Mansa Ram, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies and Prakash Chowdhary, Minister of State for Rural Development, today formally resigned from the State Cabinet as well as the membership of the BJP. The two made the announcement after reaching here this evening from their respective constituencies. The Ministers were originally from Sukhram's Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC) and were asked to join the BJP by the HVC supremo in 1998 to stall the formation of the Virbhadra Singh Government in the State. In one of his political masterstrokes Mr. Sukhram first broke his own party, gave it a separate name and then merged it with the BJP.

Mansa Ram, a veteran Minister from Karsog constituency and a former Congressman is a close confidant of Mr. Pandit Sukhram. Prakash Chowdhary from Balh constituency, a first timer, calls Sukhram and Mansa Ram his `political gurus'.

Talking to The Hindu over telephone today the two said they were ignored by the BJP though they had done a `great sacrifice' for forming the Government. "Our names were not proposed by the lower committees as party nominees for the coming elections and the BJP cadres were ready to organise a revolt if we were given party tickets," they said. "We were also denied any position or office in the party for the past five years and were always called outsiders", they alleged.

Asked if they were ready for an alliance with the Congress, Mansa Ram, the senior of the two, said, "Our fate lies with Mr. Sukhram. We will do as per his guidance."

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