Barely a week after former tourism minister G S Bali was given a clean chit in a “sting operation” by a one-member inquiry panel, he has managed to rope in CWC member R K Dhawan and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, apart from all other senior party leaders of the state, to be part of a rally in his constituency on Thursday.Dhawan is in-charge of party affairs in Himachal and the rally at Nagrota Bhagwan is on the lines of the one organised by Bali after he resigned from the Cabinet following the “sting operation”. The former minister’s move, almost a month before the December 19 elections, is being seen as an attempt to thwart any moves by the BJP to make an issue out of the controversy.The rally itself has been co-opted by the party, which has dubbed it the ‘Janajagran Abhiyan’. “This will be a virtual beginning of the Congress campaign, though it will take some time to get into full election mode,” PCC president Viplove Thakur told The Indian Express.The BJP, which is well-entrenched in the Kangra belt, claims to be unfazed at Bali’s attempts at a comeback. “We really wonder what message the Congress wants to send by engaging Bali to spearhead the party campaign. We don’t give much credence to the clean chit. Bali’s personality itself remains controversial,” says Ramesh Chand, a former BJP minister.
