Within hours of the CBI raids, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday sought the resignation of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh from his post.
“It is a clear case of corruption. It is evident that he (Singh) misused his position as Union Steel Minister during UPA rule and indulged in corruption, which has been exposed now in this case. He has no moral right to continue,” said Union Health Minister JP Nadda. He added Singh had no moral right to continue in office.
Terming the Congress as the “mother of all corruption”, BJP leaders also targeted Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi over the issue and dared them sack Singh.
“Sonia and Rahul only talk hollow about corruption, but do not act against its corrupt leaders. While the Congress is the mother of all corruption, Singh is the symbol of corruption who was allowed to flourish by the corrupt Congress. We demand that if he does not resign of his own, the Congress leadership should immediately sack him,” said BJP secretary Shrikant Sharma.
“If there is any morality left in him (Singh), he should resign immediately as Chief Minister,” added Sharma, who is also in-charge of BJP’s Himachal affairs. He claimed the Congress Government in Himachal had lost people’s confidence.
Nadda, who is a politician from Himachal, attacked Congress saying people were not ready to bear the burden of a “tainted” Chief Minister whose “administrative failure” had already pushed the State into a big mess. He also charged that the brazen way in which Singh had amassed wealth was “shocking”.
Nadda added that Congress was making a weak defence in targeting CBI to shield Singh. “The fact of the matter is that the preliminary enquiry was instituted against him (Singh) in 2013 when UPA was in power at the Centre. The FIR against
Singh is a culmination of the preliminary enquiry. There are no excuses left for the Congress and the tainted CM,” Nadda said.