Speaking to Himachal Live, CLP leader Vidya Stokes said AICC General Secretary Mohsina Kidwai is the Chairman of the committee and she herself was the member along with PCC chief Thakur Kaul Singh, Gangu Ram Musafir, GS Bali, Chander Kumar, Thakur Singh Bharmouri, Harbhajan Singh Bhajji and Mukesh Agnihotri. She said the members would bring coordination between the AICC and the CLP.

Stokes said that at the recent plenary session of the party, Gandhi had emphasized the need for better coordination between the party and the government and legislature party.

Shimla: On the eve of the winter session of Himachal Pradesh Assembly, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today attacked the UPA government for reducing the kerosene quota of the state and failing to maintain regular supply of LPG.

He said it was mainly because of mismanagement on the part of the government that regular supply of LPG was not available and people were facing acute shortage. He added that a cut in kerosene oil quota was a cruel joke with the poor people who had no other source to meet their energy requirements.

Dhumal also urged the Centre to adequately compensate the state for denial of revenue due to the ban imposed on tree felling.

Referring to recent fake certificate scam in Himachal Board of School Education, the Chief Minister said that one inquiry report has been submitted and is being studied by the government while another report was awaited. It appeared that the irregularities were going on for past several years but the government was determined to bring the guilty to the book and cleanse the Board, Dhumal added.

On the other hand Congress would have tough time cornering the ruling BJP as it’s top leadership has been accused of going soft on the BJP government. It remains to be seen would Kaul Singh Thakur after becoming Congress president for the second term would corner the BJP government or not.

The panchayat elections in the state would take place by month end and Congress would like to score points but it hardly has speakers in the assembly who can take on the government. Though there is no dearth of issues for the opposition in the state.

Speaking to the media today Thakur said his top priorities would be to win the forthcoming panchayat and local elections. He said during the forthcoming elections, due representation would be given to the youth and the women.

‘Of course, the party’s campaign against misdeeds of the ruling BJP government would continue,’ he added.

Thakur, former speaker of the state legislative assembly, was appointed the state Congress president for the first time July 7, 2008. He replaced Viplove Thakur, a Rajya Sabha member who resigned after the party’s defeat in the state assembly polls in December 2007.

Earlier, Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh, a five-time chief minister, was keen that Gangu Ram Musafir, or Chander Kumar be made the state party chief.

"Singh should write to the government instead of making offers through media and whenever a formal proposal is received, the government would be too willing to immediately provide the land," Dhumal said addressing a press conference.

The chief minister refuted the allegations that his family members and BJP workers were on land purchase spree and said if someone was legally purchasing land, it was his right. Dhumal also took strong exception to the remarks of Virbhadra that he (Dhumal) did not have leadership qualities and termed it as insult of the people of Himachal who had voted BJP to power.

Dismissing the petition, a division bench of High Court comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Deepak Gupta, said it was neither an appropriate case nor in a stage to grant the prayer to transfer the investigation to the CBI from state vigilance bureau.

“Since the investigation is in progress in the said case, we do not propose to make any further comment on that and it is unnecessary for us to go into that matter, at this stage. Under the circumstances, we do not find it as the appropriate stage for the petitioners to invoke extraordinary jurisdiction of this court under Article 226 of Constitution as an appropriate case for change of investigating agency,” the court ruled.

The case is under investigation but the position is that nobody has seen what the police report is and without seeing the police report, it is not proper for this court in exercise of its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution to decide as to whether it is an appropriate case and whether it is the appropriate stage for the Court to issue a direction for change of investigating agency,” the division bench observed.

The rejection of the petition had paved way for filing a charge-sheet against him in the court of Special Judge, Shimla as all stays granted earlier, restraining the government from filing the charge-sheet also stand vacated.

In the petition, Virbhadra Singh had pleaded that after Prem Kumar Dhumal became chief minister of Himachal in December 2007, the government registered a case against him and his wife on August 3, 2008, under the Prevention of Corruption Act on the basis of an audio CD released by his political adversary Vijay Singh Mankotia in May 2007.

According to police, Virbhadra Singh was heard allegedly referring to some monetary transactions on phone with late IAS officer Mahinder Lal.The CD also allegedly contained the voices of his wife and some industrialists.

Singh had earlier filed a similar petition which was dismissed by Justice Kuldeep Singh on September 4 but immediate implementation of the judgment was stayed for two weeks to enable him to approach the appropriate court. Before the expiry of the deadline, Singh filed another petition which was dismissed today by division bench.

The Vigilance Bureau is ready with the charge-sheet which is likely to be filed today itself, a vigilance official said.

Full High Court judgment can be read here.

Virbhadra Singh in his petition had asked transfer of his case to the CBI and quashing of FIR lodged by the vigilance department.

Justice Kuldeep Singh had reserved his order on August 20 and gave the ruling today.

The court in it’s order suspended the implementation of the judgment for 15 days to enable Virbhadra Singh file an appeal against the order in the Supreme Court.

Justice Kuldip Singh in his judgment observed that material on record at this stage does not warrant interference of the high court. ‘The petitioners can raise all the contention before the competent court, including the contention of handing over the investigation to the CBI. The court vacated all interim orders where by the vigilance was restrained from filing the challan in the court,’ he observed.

During hearing, Virbhadra Singh’s counsel argued that the cases were registered on the basis of a CD whose origin was not known. He said at that time only audio cassettes were in use and not CDs. The counsel said the forensic science laboratory had submitted its report on Aug 8, 2008, but the FIR was registered after a delay of one year.

On the other hand, the state government contended that the vigilance bureau had already completed investigations in the case and sought permission to file formal charges.

Talking to reporters, Satyapal Jain, representing the government, said: ‘We would soon file a caveat in the apex court against the high court’s suspension of the implementation of the judgment for 15 days.’

‘We are legally examining the judgment. If it’s legally possible, we can even file the charge sheet against Virbhadra Singh and his wife in a trial court. The prosecution is ready to file the challan any time,’ he added.

Justice Kuldip Singh in June this year had rejected Virbhadra Singh’s another plea to make chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and Director General of Police D.S. Manhas party to the police FIR registered against him.

Kehar Singh Khachi – Shimla rural, Pradeep Kumar – Shimla urban, Harshwardhan Singh – Sirmour, Sunil Sharma – Hamirpur, Puran Chand Thakur – Mandi, Budhi Singh Thakur – Kullu, Suman Verma – Kangra and Suresh Bhardwaj – Chamba have been appointed as the DCC presidents.

CPI-M in it’s press statement said that a dawn to dusk hartal will be observed on 5th July to protest against the hike. The impact of hike would be more in Himachal Pradesh as transportation of goods is done by road in all corners of the state. The party had asked people to refrain from traveling on July 5 and have urged parents not to send children to school so as to avoid inconvenience.

The state unit of the BJP also have given a bandh call on the same day. However emergency services have been kept out of the purview and will not be disrupted.

In a statement issued today Tikender Panwar, member state secretariat CPI(M) strongly condemned the governments move of installing CT scan machines in these hospitals under PPP.

Tikender said “This decision of the BJP government will hit the poor patients as the private entrepreneur will work on the sole motive of profit rather than service to the patients. The government is abdicating from its responsibility of providing cheap and quality health services.” The CPI(M) has asked the government to review and provide quality service in the public domain, he added.

Criticising the governments move of opening universities in private sector he said the revelations made by the 5 member committee set by the government on Manav Bharti university vindicates the consistent stand taken by CPI(M)on this issue. The party reiterated its demand of scrapping the Manav Bharti University Act. He said how is it possible to award a doctorate degree (Phd) without having a Masters course in the campus. This is exactly what is being practiced in Manav Bharti University.

He said CPI(M) demanded a thorough probe in all the other private universities in the state. Many prestigious institutions of higher learning which have decades of quality performance have not yet been awarded the university status and have been kept under the deemed category. The BJP government in its haste has opened 18 private universities in such a small state .

The CPI(M) reiterated its demand of appointing a regulator and a mechanism to check their fees structure, wage structure and standards of education.

A press release on the BJP website confirmed the appointment of Thakur as national president of the Yuva Morcha.

Earlier, Himachal forest minister JP Nadda was appointed as national general secretary of the party and former chief minister Shanta Kumar is officiating as national vice president of the BJP.

Anurag Thakur is also the president of Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association.