CM vs Dhumal over court cases

Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 24

Tempers ran high as Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and Leader of Opposition PK Dhumal today engaged in heated exchanged during the debate in the assembly on law and order situation.

The resolution for the debate under Rule 130 had been moved by BJP legislators – Suresh Bhardwaj, Mahender Singh and Ravinder Ravi.

The debate saw acrimonious exchanges between Virbhadra and Dhumal with both accusing each other of registering false cases while in power.

There was hard-hitting attack against Virbhadra on the issue of corruption charges faced by him from the BJP legislators, including Satpal Singh Satti and Randhir Sharma.

What precipitated the situation was the mention of the cases faced by Virbhadra before the CBI and the ED and his frequent trips to Delhi by Randhir Sharma.

This provoked the Chief Minister who said all the cases were an outcome of the political vendetta being unleashed against him by the BJP leaders, including Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, PK Dhumal and his two sons.

He also accused Dhumal of registering false cases against him in which he got clean chit after facing session trial.

The accusations drew immediate reaction from Dhumal who was on his feet countering the allegations. “It is your government which has registered false cases against me and the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) with each one of them falling to withstand the scrutiny of court,” remarked Dhumal. He said that even in case of allowing an IPS officer to continue in service, the Supreme Court had given him a clean chit.

Others who took part in the debate included Suresh Bhardwaj, Maheshwar Singh, Jagjivan Pal, Mahender Singh and Rajeev Bindal.

There were heated exchanges of the opposition benches with Agriculture Ministre Sujan Singh Pathania and Congress MLA Rakesh Kalia.