Himachal Pradesh CM Virbhadra accused of corruption; cries vendetta

The development came a day after the BJP released a sting video to level corruption charges against Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat.

Continuing its tit-for-tat offensive against the Congress even as Parliament remained deadlocked, ruling BJP accused Himachal Pradesh CM Virbhadra Singh of “accepting bribe” from a “private firm” to buy a farm house in Mehrauli.

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday again raised the issue of corruption against Singh and cited the IT report shared by the authorities with CBI and ED. Singh has denied the allegations as false and frivolous.

He alleged that Virbhadra and his family members took unsecured loans from businessman Vakamulla Chandrashekhar Reddy in lieu of allotment of State government contracts.

Mr Prasad alleged that Mr Singh accepted a bribe from a hydel power firm, Venture Energy and Technology Pvt.

Prasad reiterated earlier accusations about discrepancies in Virbhadra’s agricultural income of about ₹6.56 crore in three years starting 2009-10. There were other aspects to the IT enquiry, especially about the curious transport of the agricultural produce – apples – in two-wheelers and oil tankers.

“Congress president Sonia Gandhi does not speak much, but Rahul Gandhi speaks a lot these days”, the union minister said, referring to Rahul Gandhi’s allegations against the BJP-led NDA government.

“There is nothing new in the allegations made against Virbhadra Singh”.

In its note to ED, the Directorate of Income Tax has said it investigated “whether undisclosed cash and unaccounted income of Virbhadra Singh and his associates has been given a colour of legitimacy through conduits provided by Anand Chuahan and Vakamulla Chandra Shekhar”. After being pressed by Congress to sack its tainted leaders including External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, the BJP has decided to combat the move of the opposition by raising fresh corruption cases in the Congress ruled states.

The charges raked up by the BJP were first levelled against Singh during the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections in 2012 and the party leaders quoted from probe document to claim that the charges against him stand “proved” and demanded his resignation.