Congress slams BJP on Himachal cricket body row

5 Dariya News

Shimla 04-Apr-2014

The Himachal Pradesh government Friday slammed the BJP for questioning the granting of permission by Governor Urmila Singh to prosecute former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal for alleged wrong doings in land allotment to the state cricket body."The behaviour of the BJP leaders is uncalled for and disgraceful as the governor is the constitutional head of the state," Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri said in a statement.

Agnihotri said the governor has given the prosecution sanction for BJP leader Dhumal in his alleged involvement in the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) scam.The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday said it would challenge the governor's sanction which, it claimed, was granted in haste.BJP spokesperson Ganesh Dutt told reporters here that it was for the first time in the state's history that the sanction was given within a few hours and without applying the mind.

Agnihotri said the previous BJP government went out of the way to give precious government land worth crores of rupees to the HPCA.At least 18 people have been named in the vigilance chargesheet, while five were accused in getting the land allotted for constructing a players' residential complex near the HPCA's stadium in Dharamsala, some 250 km from here.The accused included Dhumal and his son Anurag Thakur, BJP MP from Hamirpur who is contesting the Lok Sabha election for the seat.Dhumal, who is HPCA's patron-in-chief, said: "It's a politically motivated case."The vigilance bureau in August 2013 filed a cheating and misappropriation case against the HPCA.The charge against Dhumal, according to the vigilance bureau, is that the land allotted to the HPCA was the common village land, which could not be given for any commercial activity.