Nothing to do with Virbhadra episode, says BJP

New Delhi, June 26 (IANS) The BJP rejected the charge of Virbhadra Singh, who resigned from the union cabinet Tuesday, that its state government in Himachal Pradesh hatched a conspiracy to frame him in a corruption case.

"The court took the decision, the (state) government had no role at all in it," former Himachal Pradesh chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shanta Kumar said.

Soon after Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Virbhadra Singh submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Kumar said it should be accepted immediately.

Talking to IANS by phone, Kumar, who is a Rajya Sabha member, said the state's BJP government had no role in the whole episode.

"His resignation should be accepted by the central government immediately, he is corrupt," Kumar said.

Virbhadra Singh, after submitting his resignation to the prime minister Tuesday morning, launched a direct attack on Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal.

"All these allegations have started rising after Dhumal came (to power). He is the most corrupt person in Himachal Pradesh and the biggest liar," Virbhadra Singh said.

His resignation came a day after a court in Shimla framed charges against Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh in a decades old case of alleged corruption. According to the police, the couple was booked Aug 3, 2009, on the basis of an audio cassette released by Singh's political adversary Vijai Singh Mankotia in 2007.

Singh has maintained that the charges are false.