Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today once again attacked the senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Viplove Thakur. When asked to comment on the statement of HPCC president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu that Viplove Thakhur had not committed any indiscipline and had right to put her viewpoint over the Central University Himachal Pradesh (CUHP), the Chief Minister said he had never said that Viplove Thakur had committed any indiscipline.
“My exact words were that Viplove Thakur was an opportunist and was trying to clear the decks for launching her daughter into politics from Dehra,” Virbhadra Singh said.
The tiff between the Chief Minister and Viplove Thakur started after a press statement by the latter. Viplove Thakur, in a press statement, had said that the Chief Minister was biased against Dehra. Viplove said that she had made a lot of efforts during the stint of the previous UPA government to ensure that 70 per cent of CUHP campus comes up at Dehra. However, by trying to shift the entire CUHP campus to Dharamsala, the Chief Minister was committing injustice with the people of Dehra.
She had also accused the Chief Minister of decreasing the administrative importance of Dehra by opening up another subdivision at Jawalamukhi located just 10 kilometers from Dehra. Following the statement of Viplove, the Chief Minister had termed her as opportunist who was just taking up the issue of CUHP campus at Dehra with a view to launch her daughter into politics from the area.
Some of the senior Congress leaders, including the HPCC president, had jumped to the defence of Viplove Thakur and maintained that she had done nothing wrong by raising her voice for Dehra area.
However, today against the Chief Minister stuck to his stand and termed Viplove an opportunist.
When asked about the claim being made by a senior BJP leader of the state regarding writing a letter to the Ministry of Environment and office of Union HRD minister on Central University issue, the Chief Minister said the letter distributed to media was forged and frivolous. He said the letter was not on the official letterhead and not signed by him. It also did not contain his official logo. “How can a Chief Minister write a letter to a Union Minister which neither was written on his letterhead and nor had any logo,” said the Chief Minister.
The issue of CUHP campus dominated the entire second leg of the Chief Minister’s winter sojourn in Kangra that ended today. The issue was taken up by the visit of Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani to Kangra for the convocation of CUHP.
However, instead of sorting out the issue the Congress and the BJP seem to be hardening their stance on the location of the CUHP campus. While the BJP leaders want the union government to stick to two-campus theory and bring up 30 per cent campus at Dharamsala and 70 per cent campus at Dehra the Congress wants the majority campus to be brought up at Dharamsala.
“My exact words were that Viplove Thakur was an opportunist and was trying to clear the decks for launching her daughter into politics from Dehra,” Virbhadra Singh said.
The tiff between the Chief Minister and Viplove Thakur started after a press statement by the latter. Viplove Thakur, in a press statement, had said that the Chief Minister was biased against Dehra. Viplove said that she had made a lot of efforts during the stint of the previous UPA government to ensure that 70 per cent of CUHP campus comes up at Dehra. However, by trying to shift the entire CUHP campus to Dharamsala, the Chief Minister was committing injustice with the people of Dehra.
She had also accused the Chief Minister of decreasing the administrative importance of Dehra by opening up another subdivision at Jawalamukhi located just 10 kilometers from Dehra. Following the statement of Viplove, the Chief Minister had termed her as opportunist who was just taking up the issue of CUHP campus at Dehra with a view to launch her daughter into politics from the area.
Some of the senior Congress leaders, including the HPCC president, had jumped to the defence of Viplove Thakur and maintained that she had done nothing wrong by raising her voice for Dehra area.
However, today against the Chief Minister stuck to his stand and termed Viplove an opportunist.
When asked about the claim being made by a senior BJP leader of the state regarding writing a letter to the Ministry of Environment and office of Union HRD minister on Central University issue, the Chief Minister said the letter distributed to media was forged and frivolous. He said the letter was not on the official letterhead and not signed by him. It also did not contain his official logo. “How can a Chief Minister write a letter to a Union Minister which neither was written on his letterhead and nor had any logo,” said the Chief Minister.
The issue of CUHP campus dominated the entire second leg of the Chief Minister’s winter sojourn in Kangra that ended today. The issue was taken up by the visit of Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani to Kangra for the convocation of CUHP.
However, instead of sorting out the issue the Congress and the BJP seem to be hardening their stance on the location of the CUHP campus. While the BJP leaders want the union government to stick to two-campus theory and bring up 30 per cent campus at Dharamsala and 70 per cent campus at Dehra the Congress wants the majority campus to be brought up at Dharamsala.
