In Dhumal’s fort,Cong dares him to contest against Virbhadra

Birender was addressing the Congress’s ‘Parivartan rally’ held in the BJP’s stronghold of Hamirpur — also Dhumal’s home district.

Earlier,undeterred by the last minute change in venue forced by hostile weather,a large crowd turned up at the rally.

Though Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma’s helicopter could not fly to Hamirpur due to bad weather,Virbhadra Singh,PCC president Kaul Singh Thakur,CLP leader Vidya Stokes and apart from Birender addressed the rally.

This was one of the first big rallies held by the Congress in the BJP stronghold after the party lost power in 2007. It was also the last in a series of rallies proposed to project a united face of the party.

There was some last minute indecision about whether or not the rally would be held,after the original venue became flooded and muddy after the rain. However,party MLA Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu,who had been appointed coordinator for the rally,convinced Birender Singh against calling it off. “The rally has proved to be the most historic one of all the four held by the Congress,” Sukhu said later.

Addressing the rally,Virbhadra Singh termed the BJP government as the most corrupt government in Himachal’s history and said that Chief Minister Dhumal was only busy in fabricating cases against political opponents. He alleged that Dhumal had been responsible for creating fake evidence against him in the graft case.

Kaul Singh Thakur,Vidya Stokes,Viplove Thakur and Asha Kumari also squarely blamed the Congress for corruption and land sales and exhorted the people to defeat the BJP and bring the Congress back to power.

Stop misleading people: Virbhadra to CM

Former Union minister Virbhadra Singh on Thursday asked Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal to stop racking up the controversial audio CD issue in the public,as the trial court had twice refused to accept the “authenticity and legality” of the evidence purportedly contained in it.

Singh also accused Dhumal of spreading falsehood that Himachal cadre IPS officer A P Singh had recommended that an FIR be lodged in the CD case or that he (Singh) had approached chief minister to appoint the said officer as his private secretary after he was inducted in the Union cabinet in 2009.

In a three-page statement,Singh refuted Dhumal’s charges against him and said that ever since his appointment as the chairman of the Congress Campaign Committee,the chief minister had stepped up his drive to mislead the people. “It is a matter of record that A P Singh neither recommended lodging of the FIR nor conducted investigations into the CD case. It is also wrong to say that I had requested the chief minister to deploy A P Singh as his private secretary. I simply went on a courtesy call to see the chief minister after assuming charge as Union minister. Neither the issue of private secretary figured in the meeting nor did my courtesy call was returned by the chief minister,” he said.

Asserting that authenticity and legality of the CD has already been decided,Singh said that after the trial court held that the prosecution has not been able prove the origin and maker of the CD,it is unbecoming of the chief minister to rack up the matter. “Being the chief minister of the state and holding the home portfolio,he must know the basic concept of the law,” he added.

While denying that he had moved the high court after release of the controversial CD,Singh claimed that it was someone else who approached the court to stop display of the CD. Singh also spoke about two prime witnesses — P C Jain and Kapil Mohan — having approached high court,denying their statements to the a police in the CD case. “It is up to the people to judge who is really fabricating cases against me,” he said.