HP ministers hit out at BJP for criticising Virbhadra

Two Himachal Pradesh ministers today lashed out at BJP for making "false and politically motivated statements" against Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and said the frustration among its leaders was mounting as they have not yet reconciled to its defeat in the 2012 assembly polls.
Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmauri and Excise and Taxation Minister Prakash Chaudhari, in a statement, said the BJP leaders had been claiming that the Congress government would be ousted after BJP came to power at the Centre but to their utter dismay nothing like that happened.
It has added to their frustration and now its leaders are talking of destabilising the government and mid-term assembly polls, they said.

The Congress party was fully united and the government led by Singh enjoys absolute majority in the House and four Independent MLAs are also supporting it, they said.
The ministers accused the previous BJP government of bartering the interests of the state and leasing out precious government lands to Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA), headed by Anurag Thakur, BJP MP and son of former Chief Minister P K Dhumal.
Meanwhile, Chairman of Twenty-Point Implementation Committee Ram Lal Thakur, Chairman of HP State Co-operative Bank Harsh Mahajan, Chairman of State Pollution Control Board Kuldeep Singh Pathania, and Vice-Chairman of State Planning Board G R Musafir rubbished the statement of Dhumal that the present government was responsible for financial crisis faced by the state as a "bundle of lies".

"The BJP government failed to forcefully plead the case of the state before the 13th Finance Commission and as a result the state was deprived of huge amount of Rs 10.725 crore and the state suffered," they said in a joint statement.
They said the situation has become alarmingly grim during the last two years of the 13th Finance commission award period as the Non-Plan Revenue Deficit Grants during the financial year 2013-14 declined to Rs 1,313 crore from Rs 1,883 crore in 2012-13 and would be further reduced to Rs 406 crore during the current financial year (2014-15).
"The BJP is also misleading the people about the loans raised by the present government and the previous BJP regime," the statement said.