Himachal CM tries to catch BJP on slippery wicket

Accusing the government of tarnishing the HPCA's image, BJP spokesperson Ganesh Dutt said the chief minister was using the vigilance and anti-corruption bureau to settle scores with the political rivals during the Lok Sabha elections.

"The chief minister is using the vigilance to target Dhumal and his sons," Dutt told IANS.

He said Virbhadra Singh was pressuring the officials to register false cases against Dhumal, the HPCA's patron-in-chief.

"Whenever the chief minister faces an embarrassment or a setback in cases pending against him in various courts, he uses the vigilance bureau as a tool," state BJP president Satpal Satti said.

He said in the last week of March, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) summoned Virbhadra Singh for questioning in a controversy in which a diary entry of Rs.2.80 crore was marked against the initials "VBS" during the period when he was steel minister at the centre.