Virbhadra Singh should have resigned on moral grounds: Anurag Thakur

DHARAMSHALA: BJP leader Anurag Thakur hit out at Virbhadra Singh, saying the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister should have resigned after being charge-sheeted by the CBI in a special court in a disproportionate assets case.

Putting pressure on the veteran Congress leader with an eye on the state assembly polls in December, he said it was a matter of ethics and claimed that the BJP would win 60 out of 68 seats in the elections.

"I think he should have resigned by now. I mean any seasoned politician with some ethics would have resigned by now," Thakur told PTI here.

The CBI had filed a charge-sheet against Singh, his wife and others for allegedly amassing assets worth around Rs 10 crore disproportionate to their known sources of income last month.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also summoned him for questioning in a money laundering probe.

The agency is probing allegations against Singh and his family members of having amassed wealth of Rs 6.1 crore disproportionate to his known sources of income between 2009 and 2011 when he was a Union minister. It has also attached assets worth about Rs 14 crore in this case under PMLA laws.

When asked about the BJP's prospects in the hill state, Thakur claimed that the party would repeat the success achieved in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

"It looks very positive. If Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand can give 82 per cent seats, I'm sure in Himachal we will win 60 out of 68 seats," Thakur, a three-time MP from Hamirpur and a former BCCI chief, said.

Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh are expected to be held in December this year. The BJP currently has 27 members in the state assembly out of the total 68 seats.