Bhopal: Days after he allegedly described
the ministers in the Madhya Pradesh government as
'ghoshnaveers' in programme at Ujjain, BJP Rajya Sabha member
Raghunandan Sharma on Friday ruled out any differences with State
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
"Shivraj is not only like my younger brother but he is
also my favourite younger brother and hence there was no way
in which I would say or do anything against him," said the Rajya
Sabha member.
Sharma said he has been in politics for more than three
decades and during all this period; he has never courted
controversy of any kind.
"I do not want to get into any controversy but this does
not mean that when the time comes I refrain from speaking
my mind openly and freely," he said.
The Rajya Sabha member said that his recent remarks at
Ujjain which led to controversy were not in the context of the
whole state but related only to Simhast (Kumbh) Mela
being held in Ujjain after every 12 years.
The veteran leader has reportedly termed the party
ministers as 'ghoshnaveer' (those who make announcements just
for the sake of it without caring for its implementation).
Sharma said it appeared that some sections of the media
were deliberately trying to create a wedge between him and
Chouhan.
"It is because of this that even those things which I
do not say find their way into certain newspapers," he said.
Regarding his statement at Ujjain, the Rajya Sabha
member pointed out that he was not given a show cause notice
but had only been asked to clarify his remarks.
Sharma said he had given his clarification to the
Madhya Pradesh BJP President, Prabhat Jha and sent it also to
those whom Jha had written.
"As far as I am concerned, the ball is now in their
court and they have to take some decision," he said.
The Rajya Sabha member had left the BJP to be with Uma
Bharti's Bharatiya Janshakti but he left it after a year and
returned to the BJP.
Later, he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya
Pradesh and he was also appointed Vice-President of the State
unit of the BJP.
Sharma was however removed from this post after he
made his controversial statement at Ujjain.
He said it was strange that only selected pieces of
what he says appear in the media to make him controversial but
what he talks about and Gita and other such things is
conveniently ignored.
The Rajya Sabha member said that he has only being
saying that the people these days do not practice what they
preach.
Sharma said that he failed to understand why this
should be construed as a remark against Chouhan.
PTI
First Published: Friday, November 25, 2011, 13:03