Not opposed to return of Cong dissidents: Virbhadra

Chief minister Virbhadra Singh on Sunday said he was not opposed to the return of Congress dissidents, but the final decision in this regard rested with the party's state chief, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.

Chief minister Virbhadra Singh on Sunday said he was not opposed to the return of Congress dissidents, but the final decision in this regard rested with the party's state chief, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.

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The CM, who was addressing a press conference here along with Hamirpur Congress candidate Rajendra Rana, said the return of old guards would help the party in the Lok Sabha elections, and that timely steps were needed in this case.

He rubbished claims of the Congress not raking up important issues in its election campaign. He said the election process had not started in the state yet and, once it would start, the party would raise issues affecting the people.

He also claimed that BJP senior leader and former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal was targeting him and the Congress for no reasons. The CM also welcomed governor Urmila Singh's nod to prosecute Dhumal in the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association land scame, saying that the decision was right and as per democratic norms. He went on to claim that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had sideline senior leaders like Atab Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Jaswant Singh, and had project it as a one-man party, that of Gujarat chief minister and BJP prime ministerial candidate Narednra Modi.