Govt resorting to threats to implicate me: Dhumal

Opposition BJP leader P K Dhumal today accused the Himachal government of "resorting to threats" get officials to implicate him in the HPCA case.
Referring to the reported statements of former Kangra Deputy Commissioner K K Pant to the Anti-Corruption Bureau that a Government College building was demolished at his instance during his tenure as CM, Dhumal said it was evident that the government had put pressure on the official.
"State government has put pressure on the senior bureaucrat, threatening him with arrest or transfer in case he didn't implicate me (Dhumal) in the case," Dhumal alleged.
"I knew about the reported statement of the IAS official two days before he deposed before the vigilance bureau," he told reporters and displayed a letter purportedly sent from Shimla to Pant's office by fax on January 4.

The BJP leader challenged the government to release the proceedings of the investigations pertaining to deposition of Pant, and released the minutes of the meeting, held on April 4, 2008 under the chairmanship of Pant, which discussed five issues on the building that was demolished.
Congress has alleged that the building was demolished and later the land was encroached upon by the HPCA, headed by Dhumal's son and BJP MP Anurag Thakur.

Dhumal appealed to media to not accept "unsigned statements" which he alleged were being issued by people close to CM on behalf of ministers and MLAs without their knowledge.

He said he was ready to face probe but hinted that the same could apply to others also.
Responding to Congress' demands to approach the Lokayukta over alleged corruption of Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Dhumal said the amended Lokayukta Act was yet to be cleared by the President. Further, it involved financial issues which were to be probed only by revenue agencies of the Central government, he said.
Dhumal claimed that Congress had not given clean chit to Virbhadra but it was extending support to him as it didn't want the government to fall in the state.