'Did not want letter to be leaked in media': Shanta Kumar

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran Shanta Kumar, who has written to party chief minister Amit Shah stating that the Vyapam scam has dented the NDA Government's image, did not want the letter to be leaked in the media.

"I wrote my concern to the national president of the party. I stand by each word of my letter. I have written it all in the letter which I want to say. I have written the pain of my heart to my national preside. However, I did not want the letter to be leaked in the media, but I stand by what I said in it," said Kumar.

The 80-year-old lawmaker from Kangra in Himachal Pradesh, however, said that he has not received any response yet.

Kumar has in his stern letter written to the BJP president said that the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh has 'made us all bow our heads in shame'.

Referring to the controversies surrounding Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Maharashtra Women and Child Welfare Minister Pankaja Munde, he suggested the need for a 'Lokpal' to 'keep a check on leaders in the government'.

Kumar, who was a union minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government, wrote the letter on July 10, but posted it on Facebook just a day before the crucial Monsoon Session of the Parliament begins.