Anurag Thakur denies involvement in HPCA land allotment case

Ramesh has alleged irregularities in the lease of land to the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) by Dhumal government in 2002 that caused a loss of Rs 100 crore to the state exchequer.

Both Mr Thakur and the HPCA have vehemently denied the charge, and the cricket association said in a statement: “It is really unfortunate that the Congress is dragging the HPCA in their personal vendetta against Anurag Thakur, who happens to be one of the young, charismatic leaders of the BJP”.

“Blatant constitutional impropriety, patent conflict of interest, glaring misuse of office, usurpation of public property and duping of public exchequer is writ large in their case”, Ramesh said.

Ramesh told reporters in Delhi that when Dhumal, the former Himachal chief minister, was in power in 2002, he allotted 16 acres of land in Dharamsala to the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA), headed by his son Thakur. The party projected the loss to the public exchequer from the 99-year deal, with “full of conflict of interests” and “fraudulent conduct”, at Rs 100 crore. 94 lakh as rent for the land, got a mere Rs.12, he said.

Apart from assailing foreign minister Sushma Swaraj over the Lalit Modi controversy, the Congress had been gunning for three BJP chief ministers in Vasundhara Raje (Rajasthan), Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh) and Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh) over alleged corruption.

Dhumal maintained that since the land was given on lease and not on outright sale its title still remains with the government and there is no ground to allege that “my family had grabbed the land or assets -which belong to the HPCA”.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman wondered why the Congress was raising the issue now. He said on Sunday that the allegations showed the “bankruptcy” of the Congress and termed it as “lies” and an attempt to “destroy” sports in the country.

“Not only Shanta Kumar raised serious questions on phone-tapping, but he has also demanded a CBI inquiry into the case”, he said. Therefore, he owed moral responsibility to explain his and his party’s stand on the issue.

Over 1,300 phones were tapped, mainly of Congress leaders, government functionaries and journalists in violation of the Indian Telegraph Act, officials say.

Summary: He said whether all the persons whose phones were tapped were criminals, anti-social elements or posed some kind of threat to state or the government at that time.

The present government registered a case on June 26, 2013, related to the tapping.