Former Union minister VirbhadraSingh today said he was ready to face a probe into allegationsthat he received payments from a private steel firm providedthe role of others, including Madhya Pradesh Chief MinisterShivraj Singh Chouhan is also investigated.
"I am ready to face any inquiry pertaining to anyministry in Centre, but all those should be inquired who havename in it," said Singh in a party's rally at Dharamsala.
"My name is Virbhadra Singh and its initials are VS andnot VBS as BJP says, but any way as I am ready, let Shiv RajChouhan and others be put under the inquiry," he said.
He said, "I have a clean 50 years of political career,though BJP kept me busy in several cases. But I always comeout clear".
Singh said that in steel ministry he never dealt with thefirm in question, it was dealt by his predecessors.
Even the differences between me and Vijay Singh Mankotia(of CD episode) is still on and the court cases are also goingon, but I (Singh) brought Mankotia back into the party foldfor the wellbeing and political welfare of Congress, he said.
Singh claimed that in the past four years the Dhumal leadHimachal Pradesh government failed to spend Rs 10.50 crore ofthe central aid and it lapsed.
Coming out in defence of Virbhadra Singh, Himachal PradeshCongress Committee (HPCC) raked the Jain hawala diary case andcited the Delhi High Court ruling that "the entries in thediaries maintained by Jain brothers were not admissible aslegal evidence".
HPCC media incharge Mukesh Agnihotri questioned the"silence" BJP leader Arun Jaitley on the alleged role ofMadhya Pradesh chief minister's office.
"The IT raids were conducted by the department in 2010and now two years later both BJP and Arun Jaitley are flogginga dead horse, raising an uncalled for din and processions tomislead voters to reap political dividend," he alleged.
Agnihotri alleged that by launching a smear campaignagianst Virbhadra, the BJP leadership was trying to divert theattention of the people away from corruption under BJP's rulein the state. He asked Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal tomake public details of the wealth allegedly amassed by him andhis family.
Meanwhile, state BJP president Sat Pal Singh Satti saidthat the conduct of HPCC president and former chief ministerhad made the state hang its head in shame.
Satti charged the Prime Minister and Union FinanceMinister with shielding Virbhadra.
"Why did the UPA government not try to find who 'VBS' was,particularly when there was no other person other thanVirbhadra in the Steel ministry with these initials,"Satti asked.
"If Virbhadra thinks he is 'innocent', he shouldvolunteer for a probe by Special Investigation Team (SIT) andassist in impartial enquiry," he said.
