Differences between Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his senior Cabinet colleague GS Bali have cropped up regarding investigations into a chargesheet which the Congress presented against the previous BJP Government two years ago.
On the re-launching of an upgraded version of Department of Public Relations website, the Chief Minister on Monday told reporters, “The Government is bound to act upon and investigate a set of charges prepared by the Congress party as an Opposition party, that were complied by a committee set up by the State party president and were submitted to the President of India.”
“A charge-sheet is only a charge-sheet and one need not fear if anything unlawful has not been done,” said Virbhadra, reiterating that as chief minister he was bound to act and investigates the charges made out by his party.
Three months before the December 2012 assembly election, Congress leaders which included health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur and IPH minister Vidya Stokes on 22 August, 2012 had handed over a 80 page corruption charge sheet against the then Prem Kumar Dhumal led BJP government.
With functioning of HP Cricket Association, construction of Dharamsala Cricket Stadium, buying of tea estate lands in and around Palampur, construction of high end cottages and apartments in a green belt of Shimla and Kasauli, and other charges figuring in the document prepared by a committee headed by transport minister GS Bali that the government is now investigating, the chief minister denied that the government was being vindictive against opponents.
He maintained that at the time when the charge sheet was made out, he was not a member of the committee that listed the charges, was not part of the State Assembly and was serving the country as a Union Minister in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Cabinet.
Transport minister GS Bali, whose differences with urban development Minister Sudhir Sharma are out in the open, only last week attempted to pass the buck by holding that the charges were made out from the documents supplied by Sharma, industry minister Mukhesh Agnihotri, party president Thakur Sukhvinder Singh and others.
Responding to the stand taken by the minister, Virbhadra Singh said, “it was the responsibility of the Congress committee to draw up charges from the set of
documents submitted
before them after having deliberated upon.”
Differences between Bali and Sharma are reported to have made the transport minister even hold out a threat of heading on a long holiday.
last week at the launch of a book, when the chief minister was questioned about a minister having threatened to resign from the cabinet, Virbhadra had retorted, “whosoever wants to resign may do so. I have given my minister a free hand for their working.”
About the growing number of Congress leaders demanding passing on the party baton from president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi, the chief minister said, “it is not a time for petty bickering within the party but a time for serious introspection. Victory has many fathers; defeat is also a collective responsibility.”
Ruling out any plans to expand the cabinet before the upcoming monsoon assembly session, the Chief Minister said, “there would be no reshuffling of ministers either.”