BJP slams Congress for shielding Virbhadra Singh

New Delhi: The BJP on Sunday hit out at the Congress for letting Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh continue after a chargesheet was filed against him by the CBI. Accusing the Congress of not fighting against black money, but batting for those who possess it, the BJP also questioned “silence” of party vice- president Rahul Gandhi on the issue. The BJP demanded that Virbhadra Singh should resign immediately.

Addressing a press conference, BJP’s national general secretary Bhupendra Yadav said the CBI, in its investigation, has found that Mr Singh has shown profit in his accounts from his apple orchards during the year 2008-09 and 2010-11 to be more than Rs 6 crore. Mr Yadav further added, “However, the profits in the preceding and subsequent years before that were zero. This establishes the fact that he has shown the fictitious earning from his apple orchards in his accounts to hide his unaccountable income.”

On March 31, the Delhi high court refused to quash the disproportionate assets case filed by CBI against Mr Singh and his wife, saying there is no basis to claim that the FIR is the result of any “political vendetta”.

It also vacated the Himachal Pradesh high court’s October 1, 2015 interim order restraining CBI from arresting, interrogating or filing a charge sheet in the case without the court’s permission.

The Congress, however, defended the Himachal Pradesh chief minister saying that there cannot be double standards for different individuals.

Congress spokesperson Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that there cannot be double standards for Mr. Hemanta Biswa Sarma in Assam and Mr. VK Singh and have another standards for Virbhadra Singh. He further added that “ I think selectivity, bias and partisanship are the issues here, you have a fair and square investigation there will be no problem”