Himachal ministers reject demands for CM’s resignation over graft charges

Shimla, April 2 (IANS) Expressing solidarity with Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, against whom a chargesheet was filed in a Delhi court over graft charges, six ministers in his cabinet on Sunday rejected the opposition BJP’s demands for his resignation.

The people in the state and the Congress, in particular, would not tolerate attempts of BJP leaders to tarnish the image of Virbhadra Singh and destabilise the democratically elected government, a statement by the ministers, including Vidya Stokes and Mukesh Agnihotri, said.

They advised the BJP leaders — two former Chief Ministers Prem Kumar Dhumal and Shanta Kumar and Suresh Bhardwaj — to refrain from issuing misleading statements as the Congress would not bow down to their pressure tactics.

The ministers said Virbhadra Singh was a six-time Chief Minister and was not going to be un-nerved by the threats and pressure tactics of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The statement comes in the wake of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday filing a chargesheet before Special Judge Virender Kumar Goyal in Delhi against Virbhadra Singh and others for allegedly amassing assets worth around Rs 10 crore disproportionate to their known sources of income.

The Delhi High Court earlier on Friday dismissed the plea of the Chief Minister and his wife seeking to quash an FIR registered by the CBI against them.

Goyal, who was scheduled to take cognisance of the CBI’s final report in the case, on Saturday fixed April 3 for consideration of the chargesheet filed by the CBI against Virbhadra Singh, his wife Pratibha Singh and others.

The CBI has booked the accused under various sections of the Indian Penal Code dealing with abetment and forgery and under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.

In its report, the CBI has cited around 220 witnesses to support its allegations.

"Everybody is aware that false and fabricated cases were made against Virbhadra Singh in the past also but every time he had come out clean from the courts," the ministers said.