A preliminary inquiry initiated by the CBI against Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Thursday has created a political buzz here.
Most political observers are seeing it in the background of a statement made by the Leader of the Opposition and senior BJP leader Prem Kumar Dhumal that the hill State is heading for a mid-term poll.
“Was the former Chief Minister in the know of the CBI outcome and its political fallout?” was the question being asked here today.
Both the BJP and Congress leaders are now keeping their fingers crossed.
“The Congress has a culture of asking for the resignation of its leaders once an FIR is registered against them and not to hold the post till they are cleared,” said a senior Congress leader.
Mr. Singh and his family members have been accused of amassing wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income.
The Opposition had alleged that Mr. Singh amassed crores when he was Union Steel Minister, but shown it as income from selling apples.
The NGO Common Cause filed a PIL in the Delhi High Court accusing Mr. Singh of corruption and money laundering.
The preliminary enquiry is the first step to examine the veracity of a complaint or source information received by the agency and if allegations are prima facie found to be true, further probe is carried out by converting it into an FIR.
Mr. Singh has also been accused of granting favours in return for unsecured loans obtained by his wife and children from some private companies. The CBI is probing multiple allegations of forgery, graft and money laundering. Mr. Singh before becoming the Chief Minister in 2012 had handled the Steel and the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises portfolios for the erstwhile UPA government and he had to resign from the Cabinet in June 2012 over allegations of corruption.
In October 2012, the scandal snowballed after documents accessed by income tax officials listed “VBS” as the recipient of what appeared to be a large kickback from a steel company.
The papers dated back to 2009-10, when he was the Union Steel Minister.
