Urban Development Minister Sudhir Sharma and Excise & Taxation Minister Prakash Chaudhary have lambasted the Dhumal family for their malicious and mischievous propaganda against the Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.
In their joint statement, Ministers said that Dhumal family was making baseless and wild accusations against the Chief Minister out of frustration as their misdeeds were coming out in public. The Dhumal family was trying to divert public attention from their wrong doings by unnecessarily raising non-issues. They had stooped down to the lowest level of meanness by indulging in mud-slinging.
They said that Arun Dhumal had tried to create hype in the media on income tax return of Virbhadra Singh as if serious irregularity has been committed. Minsiters said that Arun should know that there is a laid down provision for revising an income tax return by any individual and there is nothing wrong in it. The matter was looked into by the Income Tax authorities and after thorough scrutiny of the returns filed by Virbhadra Singh no wrong or illegal transaction was found by them. The same issue was raised by the BJP leader Arun Jaitley during the recent Assembly Elections to malign the image of Virbhadra Singh and draw political gain in the election.
Congress leaders said that the people had totally rejected his unfounded allegations in the media and voted the Congress party to power. But it seemed that Dhumal has not learnt any lesson from it that false and frivolous accusations don’t last the test of truth, and he was unnecessarily flogging the same dead horse in his frustration, they added.
Ministers also clarified their stance about the loan and said
“Taking of a loan by Virbhadra Singh from an individual, the ministers said that it was a right of an individual to take a loan, and what was wrong in it. Virbhadra Singh had taken a loan at 12 % interest through cheque after adopting the proper procedure and it was duly documented. Arun Dhumal was distributing the illegally obtained copies of the Income Tax Returns of Virbhadra Singh to the Media, which was an offence in itself. Still, he should have had application of common sense to see that the loan about which he was making lot of hue and cry, is reflected in the various returns and Singh was paying interest on it”
However, Congress leaders erected another controversy and blamed Dhumal family grabbing a public school, and a Petrol Pump and Diamond Jewellery Shop at Jalandhar. Congress leaders accused that Arun Dhumal, who was a Manager of Delhi Public School, Jalandhar cheated the other two partners Rajeev Bhatnagar and Vipin Mahajan by bringing in another partner Sanjeev Vohra and Associates as Chartered Accountant and grabbed the entire property and school. They said that the matter is in the Court where Arun Dhumal is accused of cheating.
They also accused Anurag Thakur for obtaining two different bonafide certificates, one of Punjab and another Himachal Pradesh. They claimed that Anurag used Punjab bonafide certificate to get a Petrol Pump and of Himachal Pradesh to take control of HPCA. Congress leaders also accused Prem Kumar Dhumal for having more than one PAN card.
The Ministers also raised an issue of illegally obtaining the land in Dharamshal from Premu, who was granted ‘nautor’ land by the government, and purchased his land in violation of the provisions of the law rendering him landless.
Congress leaders added that it’s strange that instead of admitting their wrong doings, they were pointing fingers at the Government. They and added that it’s ridiculous that Dhumal family was crying vendetta and victimisation, after their shady land deal had been exposed. Congress leaders added that it was just a beginning and many more skeletons were expected to come out when the investigations in other cases are conducted.
Ministers added
“They said that if Dhumal and his sons really feel any wrong was being done to them they should seek legal remedy rather than making unnecessary hue and cry in the media. They said that it appeared that Arun Dhumal has developed some kind of sickness of remaining in the news headlines, but his media-mania would not help him to escape the misdeeds committed by him and his family”
The Ministers said that there was no question of vendetta or victimisation by the present Govt. The investigating agencies were doing their work in a free and fair manner, and the innocent need not to be afraid of anything. If the Dhumals have not done anything wrong, they need not to fear as the law will take its own course.
Congress ministers said that during the tenure of BJP Government the State was virtually put on sale and a large number of benami deals had been transacted. There were many cases of benami, illegal and irregular land deals during BJP regime and the present case was just a tip of the iceberg. They claimed that not even a single inch of land was purchased by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh or his family members. The ministers said that the Dhumals were making a mockery of themselves by levelling unfounded wild accusations against Virbhadra Singh as the people of State were aware of his credentials and had great respect for the integrity and honesty of Virbhadra Singh.
