Cong levels office of profit charge against BJP RS nominee Vats

Opposition Congress today alleged that Lt General D P Vats (retd), the BJP candidate for the lone Rajya Sabha seat in Haryana, had concealed in his nomination papers that he was holding an office of profit, a charge Vats denied as baseless.
Vats here yesterday filed his nomination papers for the seat being vacated by Congress member Shadi Lal Batra.
The retired Army officer is all set to enter the Upper House as he is the only one to file nomination for the lone seat being vacated from the state.
At a press conference on the sidelines of the ongoing budget session of the state Assembly here, senior Congress leader Karan Singh Dalal said he had filed a complaint with the Returning Officer, demanding nomination papers of Vats be rejected.

"Vats is presently holding the post of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Adviser at the Maharaja Agarsen Medical College and Research Institute at Agroha, in Hisar, which is an office of profit, but he has not disclosed this fact in his nomination papers," Dalal alleged.
These amounted to disqualification from contesting election for the post of MP (Rajya Sabha) as per the provisions of the Representation of People's Act, 1951, Dalal said.

When contacted, Vats told PTI that he had resigned from the post of the private institution before he filed his nomination papers.
"I do not know how the office of profit charge is being levelled," Vats said over phone.

Asked to comment on some more allegations levelled by Dalal against him, Vats said, "They are free to level allegations."
Vats (65), who hails from Hisar, has served as the director and commandant of the prestigious Armed Forces Medical College, in Pune.
He has also served as the chairman of the Haryana Public Service Commission between May 2011 and April 2012 under the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government.