Shun character assassination, Himachal ministers tell BJP

Two senior cabinet ministers in the Virbhadra Singh-led government in Himachal Pradesh Saturday advised the opposition BJP to shun politics of character assassination and mudslinging.

"We advised the BJP leaders to shun the politics of character assassination and mudslinging and look under their own collars before pointing unnecessary fingers at others," ministers Vidya Stokes and G.S. Bali said in a statement here.

The statement came two days after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal's son Arun Dhumal accused Virbhadra Singh and his parliamentarian wife of raising a loan from a company which benefited from the government.

Virbhadra Singh has, however, denied any wrongdoing.

Stokes and Bali said it was Dhumal who as chief minister from 1998 to 2003 and 2007 to 2012 resorted to politics of vendetta and victimisation of the opponents.

"The probes against the misdeeds of the previous BJP government are being carried out by the investigating agencies as per law on the basis of the chargesheet submitted in 2012 by the Congress," they said.

The ministers said the chargesheet was prepared and submitted to the President of India by a committee of which Virbhadra Singh was not a member.

"The chargesheet is a part of the Congress election manifesto that has been adopted as the policy document of the present government. It is totally absurd to allege that the probes have been ordered by any individual or are aimed at a particular individual or a family," they added.