BJP exposed, say HP ministers

Shimla, May 29 (UNI) Two Himachal Pradesh Ministers today accused the state unit of the BJP for implicating them in ''false criminal cases'' during their tenure in office and ''distorting'' the facts to malign the image of the state government.

''After the Supreme Court absolved Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in the Sagar Katha allotment scam and the dismissal of the BJP's petition, seeking the disqualification of 12 Congress MLAs for holding the 'office-of-profit,' the BJP stands exposed,'' Excise and Taxation Minister Rangila Ram Rao and Animal Husbandry Minister Harsh Mahajan said in an official release here.

They said the appointment of the Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPSs) and Parliamentary Secretaries (PSs) was made to provide greater and better representation to all religions and sections of the people and was widely welcomed in the state.

However, the BJP took the issue to Governor V S Kokje, who referred the matter to the Election Commission, for seeking their disqualification from the Assembly for holding the 'office-of- profit' as CPSs and PSs, they said.

The BJP was raising non-issues to ''divert'' the attention of the people from other developmental issues and their ''non-performance,'' they said and claimed ''the people of the state would teach them a lesson in the next Assembly elections.'' UNI AS VKJ HS KP2254