Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today lashed out at Himachal Pradesh Cricket association (HPCA) headed by BJP MP Anurag Thakur, and accused the cricket body of committing forgery and grabbing government property worth crores of rupees in Dharamsala for construction of a five star hotel and a stadium.
Addressing a public meeting at Hamirpur in home district of former chief minister P K Dhumal, Singh stressed that the sports bodies must be elected in a democratic and transparent manner.
The recently passed Himachal Pradesh Sports (registration, Recognition and Regulation of Associations) Bill, 2015 was a move in this direction to regulate the sports associations in the State, the CM added.
The Chief Minister said that HPCA nominated former chief minister as its Chief Patron and his MP son, Anurag Thakur as its President besides his friends as its life time members without any voting rights to anyone.
Virbhadra Singh claimed that HPCA got itself re- registered as Himalayan Players Cricket Association in Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh and flouted all legal norms and later again got itself registered under the company Act somewhere in Chandigarh.
The association which was meant for the budding players, to boost sports activities was converted into company for benefit of the few, he alleged.
"It was against the law of the land that unless it gets itself registered with Registrar, co-operative society in the State it could not be given recognition," he said.
Maintaining that the government was keen to promote cricket and all other games in a big way, the Chief Minister asked the opposition BJP to reveal that as how many players were given chance to play in Ranji Trophy matches since the formation of HPCA.
Alleging that the HPCA was a "single family affair, a company run by a single family and like-minded coterie", Virbhadra Singh declared that so long as he was chief minister of the state, he won't allow anyone to encroach upon or confiscate the property of the state in an illegal manner.
