Staff Correspondent, Hamirpur
A political spat has ignited in the state after senior BJP leader and former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar made critical comments about Leader of opposition and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi. The remarks were met with a fierce and personal rebuttal from a local Congress leader, dredging up old history about Kumar’s record in Himachal.
Deepak Sharma,National Coordinator of the All India Kisan Congress, slammed Shanta Kumar’s statements as “unwanted and condemnable.” He accused the former CM of being habitually out of touch with ground realities and making “grandiose statements.”
In his sharp response, Deepak Sharma took direct aim at Shanta Kumar’s legacy, calling him “one of the state’s most unsuccessful Chief Ministers” and alleging a history of opposing Himachal’s very formation.
“During the movement for statehood, Shanta Kumar was on the opposite side. He is on record leading slogans against the creation of our state,” Sharma claimed. “Now, he lectures others on contribution.”
Deepak Sharma further criticized Shanta Kumar’s administrative record, citing the former CM’s own autobiography which, he says, admits to spending mere “23 days actually governing” during his first term, with the rest dedicated to political survival.
“Development needs plans, not just poems and flowery words,” stated Deepak Sharma, a prominent local kisan leader. “His contribution to making Himachal an ideal state was virtually zero.”
Deepak Sharma accused shanta Kumar of having “a compulsive need to comment on everything,” but questioned his silence on key current issues affecting the nation and the state.
“Why is he not speaking up on matters like alleged EVM concerns, or policies that impact our farmers?” Sharma asked. “He is quick to comment on the Congress but slow to question his own central government’s decisions that hurt Himachal.”
The Congress leader offered a robust defense of Rahul Gandhi, calling him a “Nyaye Yodha” and stating that his focus on “saving democracy” was more important than Kumar’s criticisms.
Ending on a defiant note, Sharma asserted the Congress’s deep roots in the state’s political fabric, suggesting that “those who have tried to finish the party’s ideology have failed before and will fail again.”