Bowing down to the mounting pressure from the opposition party, following the framing of charges against him and his wife Pratibha Singh, Virbhadra Singh has today resigned from the Union Cabinet. Virbhadra Singh is accused of misusing his office in a two decade old graft case.
Virbhadra Singh’s resignation, submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday at his & Race Course Road residence in New Delhi, is aimed at taking the sting out of BJP charge.
According to the charges framed against Virbhadra Singh, he allegedly granted favours to industrialists and his conversation was recorded in an audio CD. In the CD Virbhadra was allegedly heard speaking with IAS officer Mohinder Lal (now deceased) and some industrialists regarding alleged monetary transactions for them to invest in the state.
Virbhadra Singh has claimed to be framed in it he said,
Nobody has ever raised a finger ever on my honesty and integrity. When PK Dhumal became the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister he fabricated the case based on false evidence. I faced the trial and the case was dismissed by the sessions court in Shimla. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister PK Dhumal is back to his old antics. I intend to resign to devote full time to fight the case. I intend to catch the bull by horns. I am not afraid of facing trial as my conscience is clear. I will go to court of law and court of people and expose all
However, Dhumal said that accusing others won’t help Virbhadra much and advised him to accept it, Dhumal said
It is a tragedy that people commit mistake and when they are caught they try to find mistake. This was a scam that happened in his tenure. Accusing others does not suit him. The allegations were levelled aganist him by his own colleague
Charges were framed against Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh under Section 120 B (conspiracy) of IPC and Sections 7,11 and 13 of Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) dealing with bribery and criminal misconduct in the two decade old case. As assembly election is due in coming few months, Virbhadra Singh’s issue can damage his chance to become Chief Minister of Himachal record six times. He is considered only mass based leader in Himachal Congress and without him, it is speculating that Congress cannot take BJP in the forthcoming election.
