Arun Kumar Dhumal, youngest son of former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has raised a storm by alleging that Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his MP wife Pratibha Singh has raised a loan from a company in lieu of providing it with undue favour.
The company, which is commissioning a hydropower project and is on the brink of bankruptcy, was given a fifth extension by the Cabinet on September 4, after a meeting was held, for completing the project. But the permits of other companies were cancelled. “Venture Energy Technologies ltd, owned by Vakamulla Chandra Sekhar was favoured by the Government, and given a fifth extension, but on the other hand permits of several other hydro projects in the State were axed, in the same meeting,” alleged Arun.
He said that the entire Cabinet was responsible for extending favours to Vakamulla. If documents submitted by junior Dhumal are to be believed, then in return of this favour, Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh, an MP from Mandi, received a personal loan of Rs 3.90 crore.
The documents presented to the media reveals the bank account numbers of Virbhadra Singh in which the money was transferred from the accounts of Vakamulla Chandra Sekhar of New Delhi, whose company Venture Energy Technologies ltd is executing a 15 MW Sai Kothi hydropower project in Chamba district.
Arun said, “While granting special extension to Venture Energy on September 4, the company was told to clear Government dues to the tune of Rs 58.19 lakh within a month. But till date it has not deposited the money. Why the Government is not cancelling the project allotment as in the case other defaulting companiesIJ” he asked. “It’s simply a case of quid pro quo.”
It must be noted that when Virbhadra Singh was Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME), a company Tarini Infrastructure also owned by Vakamulla Chandra Sekhar was given MSME of the year award in 2011. Interestingly, payment details of the account of Chief Minister’s son Vikramaditya Singh, shows that Rs 2 crore was deposited in it from November 19-29, 2011.
The way things are shaping in the hill State, with allegations and counter allegations making way from both the Opposition and the ruling party makes it evident that the era of mudslinging has touched new peaks, with general election round the corner.