New Delhi: Rallying behind embattled Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh after CBI raids at his residences in a disproportionate assets case, a delegation of state ministers, Congress MLAs and leaders today submitted a memorandum to President Pranab Mukherjee seeking "appropriate action" to uphold democratic traditions.
All state ministers, Congress and Independent MLAs, and Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee office-bearers petitioned the President this evening, alleging that the chief minister is being targeted by the BJP-led central government.
"The action of the central investigating agencies, besides being inhuman and uncalled for, was designed to disgrace and defame Virbhadra Singh and destabilise the Congress government in the state headed by him," they said.
"The Congress Legislature Party and the Pradesh Congress Committee, Himachal Pradesh strongly condemn the misuse of central investigating agencies by the ruling BJP and its politics of vendetta, vengeance and destabilising democratically-elected Congress governments.
"We seek to draw your kind attention on these matters and appropriate action to uphold the high democratic traditions of this great country," the memorandum said.
They alleged that false and fabricated cases were being filed against political opponents, parties and governments who are being threatened and terrorised by the BJP-led government at the Centre.
"The BJP-led NDA government has been hatching political conspiracies and misusing central investigating agencies to achieve their ulterior motives. Threatening and terrorising political people, parties and governments opposed to them have become a practice with the present BJP regime at the Centre.
"Fabricating false cases, filing FIRs and conducting raids against their political opponents by pressurising investigating agencies is the most ugly and dreadful face of their political vendetta," the memorandum said.
The leaders said ever since the NDA Government came to power, BJP leaders have stepped up their campaign to 'destabilise' the Congress governments in states and termed such "undemocratic and unethical means" to bring down democratically elected Congress Governments having clear?cut majority and mandate of people as "unfortunate".
In an unprecedented action on a serving Chief Minister, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on September 26 raided the official residence of Virbhadra Singh and 10 other places in connection with an alleged disproportionate assets case on a day his daughter was getting married.
Searches were also carried out at his official residence in Delhi, his two houses in Shimla and Rampur and a farm house in Mehrauli in South Delhi which is in the name of his son Vikramaditya Singh.
