Surprised by Jairam's charge, Congress are national looters: Anurag Thakur

Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament from Himachal Pradesh and honorary secretary of the Board of Control for Criket in India (BCCI), Anurag Thakur, said on Monday that he was very surprised by the alleged embezzlement charges beiung levelled against him by the Congress Party with regard to the allotment of land for a cricket stadium in his state.

Rubbishing the charge of Congress spokesman and former union minister Jairam Ramesh of him and his father (former chief minister) Prem Kumar Dhumal being involved in a lang grab case when the BJP was in power in HImachal Pradesh, Thakur said, "I am surprised by their (Congress Party's) allegation."

Referring specifically to the alleged charge that Dhumal and he had indulged in irregularities in the lease of land to the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) in 2002, and to the fact that the Virbhadra Singh-led Congress Government has ordered a vigilance inquiry in the matter, Thakur, seeking to come clear on the issue, said, "We have spent only Rs.50 crores in building the world's most beautiful stadium (in Dharamsala).

Taking on the Congress, he further stated, "This shows the backups of the Congress. The Congress looted thousands of crores during the (2010) Commonwealth Games on the pretext that various stadia needed to be revovated. They do not have any answers on those issues. Let them clear their stand first.