Quoting misdeeds and corruption charges levelled against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday appealed to all political parties and their leaders to “politely resign” if they were found guilty of corruption charges in any preliminary investigation.
“Otherwise, the people of this country are fast their losing faith in public representatives and democratic institutions,” he said.
The Home Minister addressed two rallies in the Balh and Nachan constituencies of Mandi in favour of his party’s candidates. He said the Himachal CM remained busy with defending himself in various corruption cases and could not pursue development projects despite significant financial assistance from the Centre.
“The previous Congress governments at the Centre were giving ₹11,000 crore in Central taxes and an assistance of ₹10,000 crore but the BJP government, without practising any prejudice, gave it [the State] ₹28,000 crore in Central taxes and ₹43,000 crore as assistance. But the Virbhadra government failed to use it for development,” he alleged.
Expressing surprise that the Himachal CM continues with his position despite facing serious corruption charges and the filing of a charge sheet by the CBI, he said such leaders were denigrating to allpublic representatives. “No Minister in the present BJP government at the Centre is facing any corruption charges,” he claimed.
‘Assess progress report’
BJP president Amit Shah advised Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to assess Mr. Singh’s ‘progress report of five years’, instead of questioning the BJP’s antecedents.
The Congress CM, who has failed developing the State’s infrastructure, has raised “a big army of drugs, liquor, and forest and mining mafias in the State,” he alleged.