BJP ask Virbhadra to name 'Godfather'

Una, Nov 27 (UNI) Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister and senior BJP leader P K Dhumal today asked Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to clarify as to who was former state ADGP B S Thind referring to as ''Godfather'' in his letter to his son.

Addressing a press conference here, he said the Himachal Government has been exposed in Mr Thind's case after his arrest by the CBI in Punjab recently.

The former ADGP in a letter to his son recently had asked him to meet ''Godfather'' who was in Dharamshala at that time and urge him to talk directly to the Home Minister for granting him bail, failing which he would be suspended from service.

Mr Dhumal said the Chief Minister should come out with the identity of the Congress leader in the state who was so tall enough to talk directly with the Union Home Minister and influence CBI proceedings in Mr. Thind's case.

The criminal cases registered against the former ADGP have not been properly investigated and the government should properly probe each of these cases under relevant sections of the IPC, he said.

He also demanded that the people of the state should be informed of the reasons why Subordinate Services Selection Board Chairman was forced to resign.

Accusing the state government of another recruitment scam in the state, he said the people of the state would like to know whether the Board Chairman's resignation had something to do with an examination result in which candidates with odd roll numbers had been declared qualified.

Mr Dhumal also dared the Chief Minister to go in for early assembly polls to check the popularity of the previous and the present state governments.

Quoting from a recent Planning Commission report, he said out of a total of Rs 1,800 crore planned state budget, the state government had only spent a sum of Rs 600 crore He said that the districts of Hamirpur, Kangra and Una had been given a step motherly treatment by the present Virbhadra Singh, adding that Congress President Sonia Gandhi had also vindicated their stand by echoing similar sentiments at a public meeting during her Dharamsala rally recently.

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