I want to catch the bull by the horn,seek early trial: Virbhadra

He said he will be requesting the court with a plea that the trial should be concluded within another two-three months and claimed that the case against him was “fabricated”.

“I know it does not suit the state government. They want to prolong it as long as possible. But,in hearts-of-heart they also know what the end result is going to be,” he said.

Charging the BJP government led by Prem Kumar Dhumal in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh with “fabricating” charges against him,he said,“This case against me is totally baseless.”

Faced with fresh responsibilities of uniting the party ahead of the Assembly elections in the state later this year, the five-time chief minister said,“I want to catch the bull by the horn and expose the nefarious designs of Prem Kumar Dhumal and his collaborators in the Himachal bureaucracy and elsewhere.

“This is not the first time he has done so. When he was chief minister last time,he had also fabricated such charges when he framed a case against me in the Sagar Katha case where I was acquitted and subsequent appeals were dismissed by the court,” Singh said.

Singh resigned from the government in June this year after the Himachal court framed charges of corruption and criminal misconduct against him and his wife Pratibha Singh in a 23-year-old case,saying there was sufficient evidence to proceed against them.

“Dhumal made 23 charges against me through the CBI,after which the CBI discharged me in every charge. Then he instituted the Sagar Katha case,which proved baseless and I was acquitted.

“In the present case,a fabricated CD was taken out,which was rejected as evidence,” he said.

On whether the corruption case against him would affect his chances at the hustings,he said,“No it will not affect in any way.”

Singh was installed as party president by Congress president Sonia Gandhi after he had reportedly threatened to quit the party ahead of Assembly elections slated later this year.