Was scared to visit Lal Chowk as Home Minister: Shinde

Former Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Tuesday said visits to Lal Chowk, in the heart of Srinagar, used to scare him when he was the Home Minister.

Speaking at the launch of his memoir 'Five Decades of Politics' in New Delhi today, Congress veteran Shinde said, "Before I became the Home Minister, I visited educationist Vijay Dhar. I used to seek his advice. He advised me not to roam around here and there but to visit Lal Chowk (in Srinagar), meet people and go around the Dal Lake. That advice gave me publicity and people thought here is a Home Minister who goes there without any fear, but who do I tell that I was so scared."

The BJP hit back saying, "Kashmir was not in safe hands under the Congress-led UPA."