(IANS)
Shimla, Nov 3: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh Friday targeted BJP President Amit Shah on the meteoric rise in the revenues of his son’s company, a year after the BJP came to power at the Centre.
Virbhadra Singh, charged by the CBI with having assets disproportionate to his sources of income, lashed out at Prem Kumar Dhumal, BJP’s chief ministerial candidate for the November 9 election in the state, saying that his party’s main achievement was “ease of facilitating corruption”.
“Dhumalji, your claims about the BJP’s so called fight against corruption made me laugh. Last time, I saw your own sons they were out on bail,” the Chief Minister tweeted.
“Your party’s (BJP) main achievement is ‘ease of facilitating corruption’. Amit Shah and son’s miracle of 16,000 times jump in income happens only in BJP rule.”
According to a report on The Wire website, Temple Enterprises, a company owned by Jay Shah, reported a 16,000 per cent increase in turnover at Rs 80.5 crore in 2015-16 from a meagre revenue of Rs 50,000 and a profit of Rs 18,728 in 2014-15. The company is engaged in the business of exporting agri-products.
Virbhadra Singh said the BJP had launched personal attacks on him as it feared his government’s “real development” in Himachal Pradesh.
“Let’s not forget the time when your party chose the wedding day of my daughter, Himachal’s daughter, to carry out a CBI raid,” he added.
Virbhadra Singh’s response came after Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi sharply criticised the Chief Minister over the Congress poll manifesto vowing zero tolerance of corruption if the party wins power in the state.
“Singh ‘saheb’ is claiming there will be zero tolerance against corruption. Can anyone believe him? Can you digest it?,” the PM had said.
“The Congress has become a laughing club. Their Chief Minister has a corruption case against him. He is out on bail. They have lost hold in every part of the country,” Modi told an election rally in Kangra in Himachal Pradesh Thursday.