Congress charges PK Dhumal of 'duping public exchequer' of Rs 100 crore in allotment of Dharamshala stadium land

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Sunday accused BJP leader and former Himachal Pradesh chief minister PK Dhumal and his son Anurag Thakur of having “violated laws” in the allotment of 16 acres in Dharamshala to build a cricket stadium. The party projected the loss to the public exchequer from the 99-year deal, with “full of conflict of interests” and “fraudulent conduct”, at Rs 100 crore.

The Congress charged Thakur, a BJP MP and BCCI secretary, with “duping public exchequer” by changing the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) from being a concern registered under the Society Act to one under Section 25 of the Companies Act in order to avoid public scrutiny of the “unlawful commercial activities in the premises of the stadium”. There are indications the current Congress CM Virbhadra Singh, whom the BJP has been targeting after the CBI started a probe against him, could drag the Dhumal-Thakur duo and the Dharamshala land deal under scanner, something the Congress central leadership too is seeking.

Addressing a press meet from AICC podium by waving documents and calling on PM Modi to act against Dhumal and Thakur, Congress’ Jairam Ramesh said: “After we exposed an interesting mother-son story in Rajasthan in Lalitgate, here is a father-son story from HP of Dhumal and his son Thakur with equally glaring instances of blatant constitutional impropriety, patent conflict of interest, glaring misuse of office...”

When Dhumal was CM, Ramesh said, he transferred the land to the Thakur-headed HPCA at 1 a month. “Under Rule 8(i) of the Himachal Pradesh Lease Rules, 1993, land could be leased only at 18 per cent of the latest highest market value of the land. Even measured at collector rate, value of this 16 acres of prime land comes to Rs 5,24,01,805. Hence, 18 per cent of the same would come to Rs 94,32,000 per annum … Therefore, the loss to the exchequer is easily around Rs 100 crore,” he said.