Raipur, July 8 (IANS) Although he backtracked, Chhattisgarh’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is still reeling under shock after MP Baliram Kashyap threatened to break away from the party with 11 legislators if the poverty-hit Bastar region of the state is ignored by the government.
Kashyap, 73, who represents Bastar in the Lok Sabha, withdrew his statement after his remarks caused a stir in the party. He told Chief Minister Raman Singh by phone that he was “misquoted by media”.

Kashyap is a four-time MP from the mineral-rich but poverty-stricken Bastar

region which comprises Dantewada, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Kanker and Bastar districts. The region has 12 assembly segment of which 11 are held by the BJP.

The lawmaker’s revolt threat was given at a private function in Bastar last weekend in the presence of a few media personnel.

“We are stunned how a senior leader can talk openly of working against his own party’s government. Though he has denied making such statements but everybody in the party knows what was reported by local media quoting him was absolutely correct,” a senior state party leader told IANS.

“If he has any issues with the government he can talk to the chief minister directly or the state president or state unit general secretary (organization) but he cannot embarrass the party,” the leader said.

“We have decided not to carry the issue forward but have briefed the central leadership about his unwelcome statement, as this came from a senior party leader who has also been a state minister several times in undivided Madhya Pradesh,” he said.

Kashyap in the past too has made controversial statements that embarrass the party but some of his colleagues say that he just likes “plain talk”.

In May Kashyap left the party bosses red faced when he said that projecting L.K. Advani as the prime ministerial candidate was a mistake and led to electoral reverses in the polls.