Himachal Congress finally released its much touted chargesheet against the BJP government. In its chargesheet, Congress has leveled 50 charges covering the entire tenure of the government. It is totally based on the theme “Himachal on sale”, drafted in the 81-page and virtually spells out the party’s poll agenda and makes it clear that Chief Minister PK Dhumal and his son Anurag Thakur will be focal point during the campaign for Assembly poll.
Besides actions of Dhumal and his cricket-administrator son, the chargesheet highlighted the acts of omission and commission of ministers and some bureaucrats and painted the state government as the benefactor of land mafia, the builder mafia and contractors.
In the chargesheet Congress alleged that Govt has showered benefits on CM’s son led state cricket association, for which Govt has allotted huge chunks of prime land at Dharamsala, Khaniara, Nadaun, Gummah and Lal Pani in Shimla. It also delved into the Annadale controversy in detail and alleged that the move to take the ground back from the Army was aimed at obliging the land mafia.
Congress has promised to either take the land back or recover its market price from the association. The land deals made by Anurag also found mention. Congress also mentioned Dhumal nexus with the Jaypee Company. In the chargesheet, Congress has listed the benefits granted like permission for a thermal power plant, doubling of the capacity of the cement plant at Bagheri, irregularities pertaining to the Karcham Wangtoo project, allotment of land at various places and the takeover of Shanta Kumar’s Vivekananda Memorial Trust for setting up a medical college. In return, the company has been obliging the state cricket association.
Anna Hazare’s team member was also featured in Congress Chargesheet as it has highlighted the illegal permission granted to Prashant Bhushan for stetting up an educational institution at a tea estate and exposing the sale of land to Baba Ramdev at throwaway prices. The Congress alleged in the chargesheet that the government was promoting the land mafia by opening and allotting huge chunks of land to a large number of private universities, awarding eco-tourism projects on forest land in violation of the law and granting overnight permission to favoured builders to raise apartments in contravention of rules.
It also mentioned that the State Apartment Act had not been repealed despite the recommendations made by a committee of the Vidhan Sabha. Various purchase scams in the state electricity board and the police, civil supplies, irrigation and public health departments also featured prominently in the chargesheet.
By releasing a fresh chargesheet Congress has overcame the embarrassment caused to it by the BJP, which leaked its draft chargesheet four months back, by coming out with its new document and also contain more pages and charges. However, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal termed chargesheet as an act of frustration. He said that there seems nothing new in this chargesheet. Old issues leaked by BJP few months back in Shimla have been redrafted.
The 15-member delegation included Kaul Singh, Vidya Stokes, Anees Ahmad, GS Bali, Kuldeep Pathania, Harsh Wardhan, Mukesh Agnihotri, Asha Kumari, Viplove Thakur, Rajesh Dharmani and Sukhwinder Sukhu submitted the chargesheet to the President.
