Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh yesterday filed three defamation cases against Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley, former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and his sons and BJP MP Anurag Thakur and Arun Dhumal.
“I have filed three defamation cases under Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code against Jaitley, Dhumal, Anurag Thakur and Arun,” Singh told reporters.
He said Jaitley and the Dhumals unleashed a malicious campaign against him and his family through the media. “Therefore, I was compelled to file defamation cases.”
At a press conference in Delhi on December 30, Jaitley demanded a probe and action from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress into allegations of payoff by a private company to the chief minister and his parliamentarian wife Pratibha Singh.
He alleged that Virbhadra Singh accepted around Rs10.5mn and Rs20.4mn, through cheques in his and his wife’s name, from Venture Energy and Technology Pvt Ltd.
Jaitley said the company was given two extensions in a power project despite defaulting.
“I am not afraid of the slanderous onslaught by Dhumal and other BJP leaders and will face them boldly. With the support and love and affection of the people of the state, I will give a befitting reply to the nefarious designs of the BJP leaders,” the chief minister said.
Virbhadra Singh said the Dhumal family was getting panicky as a charge-sheet containing serious charges of corruption and land scams against Dhumal, his family members, former ministers and others, is being probed.