Reacting to the reports of the State Vigilance Bureau submitting a fresh charge sheet seeking approval from the state government to prosecute the former Chief Minister Prem Kumar, HPCA President Anurag Thakur, office bearers of the Association and others officers in the case, the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) has said that it will not be cowed down by such witch-hunting being undertaken at the behest of the power that is controlling the government and has its primary agenda to implicate the Association in false cases and inquiries which has been happening for the last 1.5 years since the government has come.
In a press communiqué, HPCA said the reported vigilance bureau move has deliberately been timed as a diversionary tactic to shift the focus away from CBI probe on the CM Virbhadra Singh, in which he and his family are close to be nailed for the corruption cases during his tenure as the Union Steel Minister. When the HPCA matter is already subjudiced before the Himachal Pradesh High Court, there is no basis for a fresh charge sheet in the case, and this has been planted just to malign the HPCA President and MP Anurag Thakur and other office bearers ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
HPCA said it appeared that the chief minister could not digest the credit being given by the people of the state, the country and the entire world to HPCA headed by a Member of Parliament from the opposing party (BJP) for creating an international-class masterpiece in the form of the Dharamshala cricket stadium, which is contributing, and will continue to contribute, tremendously to boosting the cricket and economy of the state through big cricketing events and general tourism.
It is due to HPCA’s efforts that cricket infrastructure in Himachal today is state-of-the-art and with best modern facilities and players like Sushma Verma, Prashant Chopra, Ankush Bains etc. are playing in India’s national cricket teams and other young players are achieving new heights in cricket.
HPCA said that it is very sad that the government in power headed by an experienced CM is wasting large amounts of public money towards lawyers’ fees in a bid to take over HPCA and malign its reputation. Rather they should have focused on spending this money and his energy and efforts on strengthening the sports facilities and helping the youth of the state.
