Suspended Congress leaders plan third front in HP

Una, Jun 21 (UNI) Former Himachal Pradesh minister and suspended Congress leader Vijay Joshi today said he and former Congress minister Vijai Singh Mankotia were in touch with some political parties for launching a ''third front' in the state before the next assembly elections.

''All options are open and that new political dimensions will soon unravel since we are in touch with a few political parties,'' he told UNI here.

Mr Joshi said former minister Kewal Singh Pathania from Nurpur assembly constituency was already in their fold along with many other ''like minded'' politicians from across the state.

Asserting that their group was committed for a corrupt free and a transparent government, he said coalition or merger of their group, with the Bahujan Samaj Party or, for that matter, with any other political outfit to give better electoral options to the people of the state were being explored.

He alleged that the present Congress state government had failed in providing a healthy and clean administration.

Referring to claims of investment in his Santoshgarh constituency, he said as against huge claims of government investment of over Rs 400 crore during the last four years in the constituency, it had not received 15 per cent funds in truth.

The remaining funds were being routed into the coffers of a ''mafia and a caucus'', which enjoyed political patronage, he said, without elaborating his statement.

The suspended Congress minister alleged that the government was laying a one cm thick coating of bitumen mix on the existing road to give it a ''new look''.

Similarly, he said works being implemented by the Irrigation and Public Healh and other departments needed to be scrutinised or inquired into by an agency, claiming that a number of discrepancies and misappropriation of funds would come to the fore.

UNI