'CBI should probe payoff charges against Himachal CM'

The Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP), a new political outfit comprising mainly Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rebels, Tuesday demanded the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe payoff allegations against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

"Corruption allegations against Virbhadra Singh should be probed by the CBI," Mohinder Sofat, HLP spokesperson and a former BJP minister, told reporters here.

"All the development works have come to a standstill. We are not satisfied with the clarifications of the chief minister over corruption charges levelled against him and the CBI must start its inquiry," he said.

Sofat was speaking after a two-day state-level convention of the HLP, which has one legislator in the 68-member assembly and is extending issue-based support to the Congress government, concluded here.

He said the party would contest on all four Lok Sabha seats in the general elections. He said the HLP and the Aam Aadmi Party have the same ideology on various issues.

The HLP is led by BJP rebel and four-time former MP Maheshwar Singh, who is now legislator from Kullu.

Under attack from the BJP over alleged corruption, the chief minister Monday said the party should go to the Lokayukta for a probe against him.

BJP leader Arun Jaitely has alleged the chief minister accepted Rs.1.5 crore and Rs.2.4 crore through cheques in his and his parliamentarian wife Pratibha's name from Venture Energy and Technology Pvt. Ltd. which was executing a power project in the state.