HLP: Rajeev Bindal, Anurag Thakur struck land deals.

The Indian Express:Saturday, February 25, 2012.

Shimla: Sharpening its attack against the BJP government on corruption and land deals, the Himachal Lokhit Party a breakaway group of the ruling party on Friday accused Health Minister Rajeev Bindal and Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur of striking land deals in Solan and Kullu districts respectively.

HLP president Maheshwar Singh, who earlier in the day held a meeting of the party’s core committee, told mediapersons that RTI details available with the party would soon be made public, and these details showed clearly the politicians who indulged in multiplication of their properties and assets after the BJP ‘s return to power in 2007.

“The entire information will soon be in the public domain ahead of the next Assembly polls slated this year, and it will prove that the Lokhit Party leaders had submitted these facts/figures to BJP president Nitin Gadkari well in advance. It’s really sad that Gadkari, instead of acting on the details, sent J P Nadda to Shimla to give a clean chit to Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal,” said Singh.

The former BJP MP rejected newly appointed BJP president Satpal Satti’s offer for holding talks with HLP leaders. “I am sure Satti is living in an illusion as he has just been rewarded with a new position in the party. We are not keen on return to the organisation, which has been corrupted by some individuals drifting from the party’s ideology,” he said.

On Thursday, Maheshwar Singh had named Radha Raman Shastri as working president and Shyama Sharma secretary general of the outfit. Mohinder Sofat, another former BJP minister, was made spokesman of the party.

Singh said new executive of the party would be formed shortly and the party had completed all the formalities to apply for registration with the Election Commission of India.

Taking a dig at the Cabinet expansion of Thursday, Shyama Sharma said “Khimi Ram failed to perform as party president but has been rewarded for his unstinting loyalty to the Chief Minister”. “Now, God save the state’s forest wealth as he has a family business of minor forest produce,” Sharma added.

Sofat targeted Dhumal for concentrating power in his family and said most powerful positions in the state were held by men hailing from Hamirpur, Una and Bilaspur. “Dhumal is Chief Minister of Hamirpur, not Himachal Pradesh,” he said.