BJP veteran Shanta Kumar 80th birthday turned out to be an occasion for the BJP to put up a united face at Palampur, where Yoga guru Ramdev was accompanied by party state senior leaders former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, national general secretary of the party JP Nadda, party in charge of Himachal Balbir Punj, state president of the party Satpal Satti and many others.

Yoga guru came out openly in favour of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for the Prime Minister’s post, describing him as the “most suitable person”. Ramdev claimed that people have already accepted Modi as the future PM and he is most suitable person for the post. He also lauded the contribution of BJP veteran L K Advani to the party and politics, but he advised him to sense the mood of the nation.

Ramdev also take a dig at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and termed them weak leaders. He accused UPA government for the present mess in the economy. He said that only by throwing Congress out from the power is an only solution.

Ramdev also announced to start a yatra from today to eradicate corruption and oust the UPA government. He also has taken a vow of not returning to Patanjali Ashram till Congress out of the power.

While talking to the press, Ramdev hinted to pursue Shanta Kumar to contest the next Lok Sabha elections. Yoga guru said that he would definitely like to support people with clean image like Shanta Kumar.

Shanta Kumar also spoke at the occasion and said that the country was facing challenges of internal and external security and the present government was not in a position to tackle them. He said that the country needed a change of government at the Centre. Former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal blamed centre government’s faulty policies for the present economic crises. He claimed that the country is facing the worst-ever crises since the Independence. Inflation is at its peak and people are reeling under price rise. The economy is in doldrums and there is no employment for the youth. Dhumal added that the number of scams have hardly hit the economy and had virtually derailed it. He asked party workers to work to throw Congress out from the power.