All tainted ministers must quit

Pilot said that HVC supremo Sukh Ram was shamelessly trying to blame others for his misdeeds. Referring to Sukh Ram’s demanding a CBI probe against him (Rajesh Pilot), former Congress president Sita Ram Kesri and former HP chief minister Virbhadra Singh, Pilot said that he was making “wild allegations” just to divert the peoples attention from the charges of corruption that he was facing in various courts.

Rajesh Pilot claimed that it was on his recommendations that Sukh Ram was inducted by former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao into the Central cabinet. He said that so called Telecom revolution in the country was a brain child of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who had set up Telecom commission for the purpose. All “sub-standard” work of cable laying and STD connections in the state were done at the instance of Sukh Ram, he alleged. Pilot claimed that Congress prospectus in the ensuing four Vidhan Sabha and Mandi LS seats had brightened up after the arrival of Sonia Gandhi at the helm. Kaul Singh Thakur, former Speaker, Himachal Vidhan Sabha, predicted that the present government led by P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister, would not complete its full term because it lacked vision, and determination. He described the three-month of the BJP regime in the state as a black one.

Pratibha Singh, the Congress candidate, said that the electorate of Himachal Pradesh seemed to have realised that Congress alone could provide a stable government.