The youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party staged a demonstration outside Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's residence on Tuesday with demands of removing Virbhadra Singh from Himachal Pradesh chief ministership.
The protestors were led by the BJP youth wing president and Hamirpur MP Anurag Singh Thakur.
The demonstration seeking action against Mr. Singh comes a day after senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh citing cases of "corruption" by the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister.
In his letter to the Prime Minister and the Central Bureau of Investigation, Mr. Jaitely has accused Mr. Virbhadra Singh of seeking financial help from the promoters of a hydel power project. The BJP leader accused the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister of giving extension to the promoters of Venture Energy and Technology Private Limited to complete the hydel power project, despite the fact that the State Government had decided to terminate the contract on grounds of default in execution.
He also alleged that Vakamulla Chandrashekhar, the promoter of the company has given an unsecured loan of Rs. 1.5 crore and Rs. 2.40 crore to Pratibha Singh and Mr. Singh respectively. The money, it was alleged was used to invest in shares in the names of his family members and an Official on Special Duty (OSD) who was with him in the Steel Ministry in a company, which is also promoted by Mr. Chandrashekhar.
Countering the Congress and the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister’s statements that there is no truth to the allegations, Mr. Jaitely on Tuesday said: “I have annexed 20 documents totalling 258 pages [with the letter to the Prime Minister]. I have also sent a copy of that letter to the Director CBI so that the agency can investigate the allegations.”
Hitting out at the Congress, he said he was surprised by the Party’s reaction to “what appears to be a clear cut case of corruption.”
“The Party has challenged me to produce the evidence. The entire evidence is documentary and submitted both to the Prime Minister and the Director CBI."
Mr. Jaitely said both the Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the vice president Rahul Gandhi should examine this evidence and make a public declaration on why they feel Mr. Singh is innocent.
