Himachal cricket body needs to be revamped: Chief Minister

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh Wednesday said the state cricket body headed by BJP MP Anurag Thakur "needs to be revamped and constitutionally elected body".

Addressing election rallies for Congress candidate Rajinder Rana for Hamirpur parliamentary seat, Singh said that Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) president Anurag Thakur and his father and former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal illegally occupied land worth crores of rupees under the garb of the cricket body.

The chief minister said the HPCA was got converted from a society into a company through alleged forged means. He said whosoever was responsible for this won't be spared.

Singh said Dhumal was propagating to dislodge the state government after May 16 and by doing so he was not only disobeying the provision of Model Code of Conduct but it showed that he lacked proper knowledge of the constitutional provisions.

BJP leader Dhumal, however, dismissed the allegations that he extended favour to the HPCA during his tenure as chief minister. Dhumal, also leader of opposition, said the charges were "politically motivated".

The state Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau in August last year filed a cheating and misappropriation case against the HPCA over alleged wrongdoing in allotment of land to the sports body for constructing a residential complex for players near its stadium in Dharamsala, 250 km from here.

The state government April 2 got sanction to initiate proceedings against Dhumal for alleged wrongdoing in allotment of land to the HPCA.