BJP leaders lash out at CM over CD issue

Shimla, Jun 20 (UNI) Launching a scathing attack on Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh over the CD issue, two senior BJP leaders today dared him to file an affidavit in the court and said that voices in the CD were not theirs.

Former chief minister P K Dhumal and state BJP president Jai Ram Thakur, in separate releases, said instead of introspecting and resigning on moral grounds following the release of the CD, they were pointing fingers at others.

Former state tourism minister and suspended Congress leader Vijai Singh Mankotia had released an audio CD at Dharmashala in Kangra district of the state that contained voices of the Chief Minister, his MP wife Pratibha and a former bureaucrat Mohinder Singh finalising a ''deal''.

The BJP leaders said the Chief Minister would do well to get the CD and the voices in it examined by three forensic laboratories to verify the authenticity of the voices in the CD instead of making vile accusation against others.

They dared Mr Singh to file an affidavit in the State High Court, saying the voices in the CD were not theirs.

Referring to the Chief Minister's statement that the BJP's victory in the recently concluded Parliamentary elections was due to the caste factor, they said this was the result of his frustration and nothing more.

Mr Dhumal and Mr Thakur said since both the candidates belonged to the same caste, it would be wrong to say that the BJP had taken advantage of it.

Accusing the Congress of raking up the issue of regionalism in the Parliamentary elections, they said it had sought votes for its candidate in Bilaspur district on this plea only.

They said the party demands high level probe into all cases of corruption in the state and would soon launch a mass campaign programme on the issue.

The party that had lost elections in 15 out of the 17 assembly constituencies of the state had no moral right to remain in power and it proved that the people had lost faith in the Congress government, they said.

They said discrimination with the lower districts of the state was evident from the per capita income and other indices and the people would teach the Congress a lesson in the next assembly elections in February 2008.

UNI