Himachal Cabinet reposes full faith in Virbhadra Singh’s leadership

The Himachal Pradesh Cabinet on Monday reposed full faith in Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh's leadership.In a resolution adopted at its meeting in Shimla, the cabinet reposed full faith in Singh's leadership and said, "The clamour of BJP for resignation of the Chief Minister is not only absurd but also exposes its utter disregard for the rule of law."

"Instead of showing respect and trust in the law and justice system of the country, some BJP leaders, having no popular support, seek to circumvent the legal process to dislodge a democratically-elected popular Chief Minister," the resolution said.

"It is quite obvious that they (BJP) have realised that it would not be possible for them to attain power through democratic and electoral means," it added.

The cabinet noted that cases (involving Singh) in question pertain merely to financial returns and despite the Income Tax Department being aware of the matter, they are being probed by three central agencies namely the IT Department, CBI and ED with the "sole objective of harassing the Chief Minister".

"It is most unfortunate and regrettable that a few leaders of the national party in power at the Centre are advocating such undemocratic practices but such high-handed and illegal tactics would be outrightly rejected by the people of the state," the cabinet said.

Meanwhile, State Finance Commission Chairman Kuldeep Kumar, State Planning Board Vice Chairman Gangu Ram Musafir and Political Advisor to Chief Minister Rangeela Ram Rao accused the NDA government at the Centre of "attempting to destabilise" the democratically-elected Congress government in the state "under the influence of some Himachal BJP leaders".

In a joint statement issued here, they claimed, "Record development has taken place in the state under the leadership of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh but some BJP leaders are carrying out a malicious propaganda against him by levelling false allegations which is unfortunate."