A day after Virbhadra Singh resigned from the Union Cabinet,the BJP on Wednesday launched a blistering attack on the Congress MP,urging him to prove his innocence in court instead of issuing threats or parading loyal MLAs in New Delhi. Virbhadras statements since he was forced to resign,amount to contempt of court. Neither has the BJP framed him in the corruption case nor has the state government fabricated any charges. Its a special anti-corruption judge,who has framed the graft charges against both,the former chief minister and his wife Pratibha Singh, said Satyapal Jain,convenor of the BJPs All India Legal Cell. He added that the BJP will not get cowed down by the empty threats of the beleaguered Congress leader. Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday,Jain who was also the state governments counsel in the High Court said if Virbhadra was absolved of the charges,he was welcome to take any political course against the BJP. He accused the former union minister of unnecessarily trying to project himself as political martyr when,a court has found a prima facie case to start trial proceedings against Virbhadra. The facts are very straight as it was a real case of corruption and bribery against a sitting chief minister. The audio-CD was released by a Congress MLA and a former minister in Virbhadras cabinet. Virbhadra had himself got the case referred to the vigilance from the High Court. IPS officer A P Singh (till yesterday Virbhadras private secretary in the ministry) having conducted the inquiry as SP vigilance,found grounds to register an FIR. Where does the BJP come into the picture here? Jain asked. He claimed that while either the Congress or close aides of Virbhadra,including former IAS officer Mohinder Lal,had a role in recording the audio-CD,the union minister was raising fingers at Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal. I want to ask Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to make their stand clear whether the legal battles,especially of corruption accused like Virbhadra Singh are fought in the courts or on political battlefields. Is it not a mockery of democracy and Indian judicial system? Jain asked. He urged Virbhadra to respect the judiciary. By issuing threats to police officers who investigated the case or parading loyal MLAs and MPs,Virbhadra Singh cant claim to be a clean man, Jain added.
