Benign Raja turns aggressive in fourth innings

Himachal Pradesh: Corruption, the issue
The year began on an aggressive note and ended in a similar vein. Virbhadra Singh first secured the state for his party and then took on his rivals, both within and outside the Congress. Corruption charges and dissidence characterised the year, says Rakesh Lohumi.

THE return of Virbhadra Singh as Chief Minister, natural calamities, vigilance inquiries and legal battles involving important politicians made 2003 an eventful year in the hill state.

Himachal Pradesh was already in the election mode when the year dawned and political activity was at its peak. The hills reverberated with the din of electioneering as top leaders of the Congress and the BJP, the two main contenders for power, descended on the state from all over the country. It turned out to be the most bitterly fought electoral battle in the history of the state with campaigning virtually degenerating into a "slanging" match. Charges and counter-charges flew thick and fast as leaders of the two parties engaged in a no-holds barred contest.

While Sonia Gandhi was the star campaigner for the Congress, it was Capt. Amarinder Singh, Punjab Chief Minster, who led the charge by making serious allegation of corruption against the BJP government, particularly the then Chief Minister, P.K.Dhumal. The political fight extended to courts during the course of the campaign as Dhumal initiated criminal defamation proceedings against Singh and two central party leaders, Moti Lal Vohra and Anand Sharma. The three leaders had not only accused Dhumal of amassing assets but also released a list of properties allegedly owned by him. In retaliation, some Punjab Congress activists filed a similar case against Dhumal in a Ropar court.

The Congress strategy to focus its campaign on the issue of corruption worked rather well and despite hectic campaigning by national leaders like A.B.Vajpayee, L.K.Advani, Narinder Modi and Pramod Mahajan, the BJP was routed at the hustings. The Congress scored an impressive victory bagging 43 of the total 68 seats, while the BJP's tally came down from 35 to 16 and its coalition partner, the Himachal Vikas Congress, which bagged five seats in 1998, could manage to retain only one. Sukhram, the HVC chief, was the only winner. Mohinder Singh, who split the HVC, managed to enter the Vidhan Sabha as a candidate of the new outfit Him Loktantrik Morcha floated by him on poll eve. The BJP was relegated to third and fourth positions in 14 constituencies. Infighting in the BJP and the Congress proved a boon for Independents and as many as six of them made it to the assembly.

Defying all odds, Virbhadra Singh, who was at the receiving end during the Dhumal regime, staged an impressive comeback to take over the reins of the government for the fourth time. He fought not only the BJP but also the rival party faction headed by the PCC Chief, Vidya Stokes, to make it to the top post.

The BJP high command sprang a surprise by sacking Shanta Kumar from the Union Cabinet in the wake of party's defeat in the state. The outspoken minister had often disapproved of the manner in which the Dhumal government had been functioning. The action only widened factional divide in the party much to the dismay of the rank and file.

The acrimony witnessed between the rival parties continued even after the election and the Congress government lost no time in initiating inquiries into the charges of irregularities and corruption levelled by it against the Dhumal regime. In fact, the enforcement department raided the office of the controversial state subordinate services selection board at Hamirpur the very day Virbhadra Singh took oath as Chief Minister. The action led to registration of five cases, three of them against S.M.Katwal, a former chairman of the board, in connection with various irregularities in recruitment.

The BJP continued to target Virbhadra Singh and bombarded him with allegations into which the Dhumal government had initiated several inquiries. Certain personal allegations provoked Virbhadra Singh to initiate criminal defamation proceedings against Baldev Sharma, the state BJP spokesperson.

Subsequently, vigilance inquiries were also ordered into the recruitment scam in the Kangra central cooperative bank and the question paper printing scam in the Himachal Pradesh University. Governor V.S.Kokje also instituted two separate probes into the administrative and financial irregularities in the university which indicted the Vice Chancellor, S.D.Sharma. The reports of the two inquiries provided much ammunition to the Congress to attack the BJP, which had been all along defending Sharma who was ultimately forced to resign. It was for the first time in the history of the university that a Vice Chancellor had to bow out of the office after being indicted for financial irregularities. Sharma has gone but the vigilance case against him was still under investigation. The government had asserted that it would be taken to the logical conclusion.

The affairs of the university brought the government and the Raj Bhawan on the brink of a confrontation but the situation was saved after the Governor instituted two inquiries. However, this did not deter the government from amending the University Act to empower itself to order inquiry into the affairs of the institution which was hitherto vested only in the Chancellor. The defiant attitude of Sharma provoked the government to make provisions for the suspension of Vice Chancellor and appointment of the Registrar and Finance Officer on deputation basis. The Congress also had its share of embarrassment when audio cassettes with recorded conversations of Congress leaders, including Virbhadra Singh, approaching Katwal for selection of certain candidates surfaced mysteriously. The BJP made it a major issue and even disrupted the proceedings of the Vidhan Sabha during the winter session to demand a CBI inquiry into the Katwal audio tape. The Congress has in its arsenal the voluminous data retrieved from the hard disks of the computers of former CM Dhumal's office, which has details of thousands of candidates recommended for appointment. Obviously, the party is in no hurry to use it and waiting for opportune time to target Dhumal.

Political turmoil apart, the state also had to contend with the elements. Cloudbursts and heavy rain played havoc with life and property and as many as 75 people perished in two major disasters. Famous as valley of gods, the Kulu valley once again bore the brunt of nature's fury. In the first incident, 32 labourers were washed away in flash floods in the Purlia nullah near Gadsa at one of the many work sites of the Parbati hydroelectric project on July 16. Before the valley could recover from the tragedy, the weather god struck again, this time at Kangni nullah in Manali ,claiming 42 lives. The victims were all labourers working on the Rohtang tunnel project. The total loss by rain and flash floods was assessed at Rs 310 crore.

There was also a major accident on December 1 when a state road transport corporation bus fell into Chaurandu Nullah near Gehra on the Chamba -Bharmour road in which 35 persons were killed.

The Congress government reviewed and reversed several of decisions of the Dhumal regime. The user charges in hospitals were abolished and the state land revenue act was again amended to undo the changes affected by the BJP government in it. The Kusumpti, Dhalli and Tutunagar panchayat areas, which were taken out from the Shimla Municipal Corporation by the previous government, were again merged into it. The government also decided to revive lotteries, which were banned by the outgoing regime.

The memorandum of understanding (MOUs) signed by the Dhumal government for the execution of hydroelectric projects were also put under the scanner. The high-powered committee set up for the purpose found glaring irregularities and favouritism in the award of projects and found as many as five out of the 17 MOUs liable for cancellation. On the basis of its report, the government had decided to initiate action against Harsh Gupta, a former chief secretary, who modified the norms for short listing of companies without the approval of the Cabinet.

In a complete departure from the policy of the Dhumal regime, the Congress government decided in principle to have at least 25 per cent equity participation in projects to be executed by central agencies. It made a strong plea to the Centre for renegotiating the agreements for 2051 MW Parbati project and the 800 MW Kol dam project to enable the state to have an equity share.

The unending wranglings over MOUs and agreements notwithstanding, the state achieved some important milestones during the course of year in the power sector. The first 250 MW unit of the 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri project was commissioned on October 14.The country's biggest hydroelectric project will become fully operational by July next year. Earlier in June, the 300 MW Baspa hydel power project stated commercial generation. It is the second private sector power project of the state after the 86 MW Malana project. The state electricity regulatory commission quashed the power purchase agreement (PPA) signed between the J.P. Industries and the state electricity board in respect of the Baspa project, which was singed on February 28, a day before the counting of votes for assembly poll.

The Kalka-Shimla rail line completed 100 years of its existence in November. The centenary, which was celebrated in style, brought belated recognition to the engineering acumen of the illiterate genius, Bhalku, when his bust was installed at Chail near his native village. He had come to the rescue of the British engineers every time their dream project hit a roadblock.

It was a good year for the fruit growers with the state recording the highest-ever apple production of 4.50 lakh tonne, surpassing the previous high of 3.95 lakh tonne in 1995. The total fruit output was likely to 5.30 lakh tonne.

The 12the Finance Commission visited the state towards the end of the year and the memorandum presented by the government to it painted a grim picture with the cumulative deficit set to cross the Rs 31,000-crore mark by 2009-10. Obviously, the state needs liberal assistance from the Centre to mange it financial affairs and much will depend on the devolution the Commission recommends for the 2005-10 period. The 11th Finance Commission recommended a devolution of Rs 7460 crore for the 2000-05 period but the state was likely to end up receiving about Rs 1000 crore less due to shortfall in collection of central taxes and with-holding of reform linked grants.