Virbhadra asks oppn to move court to prove charges against him

Under attack from the opposition over alleged corruption, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today hit back at his detractors saying that they were unleashing a "slander" campaign against him, and asked them to move court to prove the charges.

Addressing a rally at Amb in Una district, Singh accused former Chief Minister P K Dhumal and his sons of "vitiating the political atmosphere and creating bitterness", and said that they had brought the political debate to the lowest ebb by continuing to level false charges against him.

"In a democratic polity, governments come and go, and allegations are levelled against political opponents during elections but for the first time the BJP continues to rely on the mud-slinging to malign me," Singh said, adding that he was only concerned about the people of the state and was not bothered about "what the BJP alleges".

Accusing Dhumal of crossing all limits, Singh said, "Senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar was Chief Minister for two terms, but never in the past the change in government caused such bitterness and the leaders maintained dignity."

Asserting that he harbours no animosity against anyone, he said that the BJP government, led by Dhumal, implicated him in false cases during its two terms but he got clean chit from the court, and added that Dhumal and his family is feeling the heat of the vigilance bureau for their "wrongdoings".

The Himachal Chief Minister has been in the eye of a storm after the BJP levelled corruption allegations against him that he favoured a power company with which he and his family has business ties.

Demanding a CBI probe into the "most open and shut case of corruption", leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, who has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, wanted to know what action he, the Congress President and Vice President would take against him (the Himachal CM).

Asked about the allegations, the Prime Minister had yesterday said he had not looked into the issue as he did not have the time for it, drawing sharp criticism from the BJP.