BJP to submit fresh chargesheet against HP government

Shimla, Jun 16 (UNI) The Himachal Pradesh unit of the BJP will submit a fresh chargesheet against the four-year-old Congress Government and seek a CBI probe into the allegations of corruption levelled against Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

Addressing a mediapersons here, party's state incharge Sat Pal Jain said the chargesheet would be submitted to the Governor by end of June.

''Corruption will be the focus of the chargesheet but issues about price rise and unemployment would also be brought out. The party will also hold demonstrations in all assembly segments in July,'' he said.

Mr Jain said the Chief Minister had made corruption the main issue in the Hamirpur by-polls but the issue recoiled on him and he himself was facing serious charges of corruption leveled by non other but a senior member of the Congress party.

It was immaterial whether Mr Singh now resigned or let the people vote him out of power, as very little tenure of the current legislative assembly was left, he said.

Speaking after holding an meeting of the office bearers, he said Mr Singh was the only chief minister in the country against whom an audio CD with serious allegations has ever been released.

His wife also figured in the CD and both should have resigned by now on moral grounds, he said.

The BJP leader said the BJP would submit a very detailed chargesheet and it was for the investigating agency to probe them.

Questioning the credentials of the Congress High Command on the issue, Mr Jain said it was surprising that neither AICC president Sonia Gandh nor Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offered any explanation about the serious corruption charges alleged in the CD.

''They owe an answer not just to the people of the state but to the country as the chief minister and his wife, who is also an MP are holding constitutional positions,'' he said.

Suspending former Congress leader Vijay Singh Mankotia from the Congress was an internal matter of the party, but it was most surprising that no action had been taken against the person against whom the allegations were levelled, he said.

On the issue about an alleged theft of a bag containing Rs 65 lakh from the chief minister's office, he said that it was a serious matter and needed to be probed.

About projecting a BJP leader as the chief ministerial candidate for the assembly election, he said that it would depend on the party's strategy after assessing the political scenario at that point of time.

''It could be done anytime before the polls, on the verge of polls, during the polls or after it but it will certainly be a unanimous decision,'' he added.

UNI