CM threatens defamation case against BJP

Shimla, Mar 6 (UNI) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today threatened to file a defamation case against the state unit of the BJP for levelling corruption allegations against him and his family members.

''I will not compromise on the issue of my honesty and integrity and will file defamation case against people making baseless allegations against me,'' he said at a press conference here.

Mr Singh said those people who were now making these allegations against him had registered several cases against him when they were in power.

''I said nothing then. But now I'm going to hit back and hit hard and it will pain them,'' he said, while replying to a question on the chargesheet submitted to the Governor by the BJP yesterday.

Yesterday, the BJP had submitted a chargesheet to the Governor against the Virbhadra Singh government for widespread corruption in the state, while making specific charges of corruption against six ministers.

The Chief Minister said the previous government made several attempts to implicate him in false cases but did not succeed. Even the CBI gave him a clean chit then.

He said they were casting aspersions on his office and one of his close relatives, which was wrong, adding that they should prove their charges or face a defamation suit.

Accusing former chief minister P K Dhumal of giving false affidavit, he said such people had no moral right to point fingers at others.

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