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As the political temperature rises in the cool climes of Himachal Pradesh, corruption charges against top leaders of the principal parties -- Congress and BJP -- are heating up the campaign in the battle for the four Lok Sabha seats going to polls on May 7.
With newbie Aam Aadmi Party making its foray into the hill state raising the now-familiar anti-corruption slogan and contesting all the seats, neither Congress nor BJP are wasting time in pointing fingers at each other.
Although no charge has been formally pressed till date, Congress is targeting BJP's P K Dhumal, former Chief Minister, and his son Anurag Thakur, for alleged corrupt practices, while BJP is hitting back at Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who is under a preliminary enquiry by CBI for alleged corruption.
"BJP is targeting him (Singh) just to avoid focus on its own misdeeds. It is only now, when the government agencies are closing down on their (BJP's) corrupt practices, that they have started raising such issues," Himachal Pradesh Congress spokesperson Subhash Manglate told PTI.
Singh has been accused of granting favours in return for unsecured loans obtained by his wife and children from some private companies.
Defending the chief minister, Manglate further said, "He has got a clean chit from the courts whenever corruption allegations were made against him. People of the state have faith in him and he has been delivering on the promises."
BJP, however, is taking none of it, and alleging that the Congress-ruled state is plagued with corruption and people would 'punish' the party.
"The last 15 months of the Congress government has seen a lot of corruption. There are charges of corruption even on the chief minister. The government has not been able to fulfil any of the expectations of the people," Himachal Pradesh BJP Chief Spokesperson Ganesh Dutt said.
