NEW DELHI: An angry BJP lashed out at former Himachal Pradesh CM Shanta Kumar for embarrassing the party by deviating from the official stand on controversies like Vyapam scam , only for the veteran to assert that he was entitled to articulate his opinion.

Kumar, who had contradicted the BJP’s defiance over the Vyapam admission and recruitment scam in Madhya Pradesh by saying that it had shamed the party and demanded the setting up of an internal ombudsman, borrowed from PM Narendra Modi ’s radio address to say that he was only venting his “mann ki baat”.

Contrary to the party’s official posture of nonchalance, the veteran leader from Himachal contended in a letter to BJP chief Amit Shah that Vyapam and other alleged scams in party-ruled states had been a setback. “Fingers from Rajasthan to Maharashtra are being pointed at us" while Vyapam scam has "made all of us bow our heads in shame”, Kumar said in his letter to Shah and demanded the setting up of an internal Lokpal.

While the deviation from the party line at a time when it is under attack from opponents was irksome enough, what irritated the party further was Kumar’s decision to post it on his Facebook page and guide the media to it.

The annoyance was evident immediately. While health minister Jagat Prakash Nadda called his senior colleague from Himachal Pradesh to urge him to exercise restraint, skill development minister Rajiv Pratap Ruddy made public the leadership’s displeasure. "We generally consider Shanta Kumar a very mature leader. But it seems that he has been carried away by the propaganda of the Congress. Whatever he has said or written, we completely disassociate with Shanta Kumar's version," Rudy told reporters.

Telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was equally bitter with Kumar. “He is a senior leader and has had a long innings with the party. However, if his heart was so pained, then he should also have spoken about the Congress chief minister of Himachal Pradesh who is facing corruption charges,” Prasad said.

Many in party circles viewed Kumar’s “pain” as reflecting the angst of veterans who have found themselves sidelined in the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah dispensation. Kumar, a member of the club which has been ruled out for ministerial and other positions on the ground of being above 75 years, has attracted ire earlier too. In 2002, defying the leadership’s solidarity with Modi, who as then CM of Gujarat was under attack for his handling of communal riots, Kumar had demanded his resignation.

Party-watchers also said the embarrassment caused by Kumar was a pointer to the larger demonstration of dissidence by sidelined veterans and others feeling marginalized which might follow should the party lose the Bihar polls. “Individual voices of protest can already be heard. But they might turn into a noisy and uncomfortable chorus of criticism if the party fails to clear the Bihar test,” a leader said.

In a TV interview, however, Kumar justified his remarks. “What as a BJP worker I thought is right I told the party president. We feel proud of our achievements and when the party is stained, then we feel pained... I don't worry about how many people are with me. With simplicity and without any fear, I put forth my 'mann ki baat’,” he told a TV channel.

The 80-year-old former Union minister denied that he was unhappy with the party leadership and said he would abide by whatever decision Modi and Shah take on the matter.

