Orchards give Virbhadra a basketful of troubles

The timing of the corruption charges against Virbhadra Singh could not have been worse. With Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections round the corner, the former chief minister will face a test of character in evading the charges while wooing the voters. He lost the first battle after threatening to break cameras of mediapersons on October 24. With none of the senior Congress leaders coming to his rescue so far, he is not expected to fare well in the remaining battles either.

 

Virbhadra has been known for often bouncing back by defying adversities and taking his battle to the public. But, this time he will find it hard to convince the public after two jolts in quick succession. In June this year, he had to resign from the Union cabinet after a Shimla court framed corruption charges against him in a 1989 case when he was the CM. Now, the BJP has attacked him over revised I-T returns.

 

During the 2009-2010 assessment year, Virbhadra had filed his agricultural income to be Rs. 7.35 lakh. In his March 2012 revised income tax returns (ITR), the income showed Rs. 2.21 cr. Revision of ITR is legally allowed by the income tax department. But it needs to be filed not later than one year from that particular assessment year or till the IT department has already assessed the original.

 

Allegations are that Virbhadra faltered in meeting both the conditions. He was almost a year late in filing the revised ITR. Moreover, the original ITR had already been assessed. If proved, these would be legal violations related to the income tax department.

 

The BJP, however, is more interested in the high income that his revised ITR shows. They are raising the issue that how an annual income of Rs. 7.35 lakh earned from apple orchards can reach Rs. 2.21 cr. Virbhadra has meekly given the credit for the remarkable rise in profit to the personal attention he paid to his orchards.

 

Virbhadra's problems do not end here. BJP leader Arun Jaitley has also demanded a probe into allegations of kickbacks to the tune of Rs. 2.27 cr to the Congress leader while he was the Minister of Steel in 2009-10. A mainstream English newspaper reported that I-T raids at Ispat Industries in November 2010 show payments against some 'VBS'. Detractors have claimed that VBS refers to Virbhadra Singh. He has however dismissed this allegation saying that the abbreviation of his name would amount to 'VS' and not 'VBS'.

 

But at the same time, huge amounts were reported to be deposited in Virbhadra's business partner Anand Chauhan's bank accounts. Anand is an LIC agent. Ever since then, Virbhadra is said to have taken special interests in LIC policies. While the annual policy premiums paid by him till 2009 was just Rs. 1.20 lakh, one premium paid by him in 2010 was Rs. 1 cr.

 

LIC policies in the name of his wife Pratibha Singh is also reported to have followed a similar trend. Interestingly, the aged couple have recently bought policies whose target groups were younger people in the age group of 18-40. The couple have claimed that the premiums paid for the policies were obtained from the profit from their orchards.

 

Though Virbhadra Singh has ruled the state five times as the CM, allegations of corruption have followed him like a shadow. In 1989 he was accused of laundering public money. The Anti-Corruption Bureau of the state caught up with him after an audio tape was received by them. The tape had conversations between Virbhadra, his wife, some industrialists and an IAS officer who is now dead. It contained talks of money transactions which were linked to the 1989 case. The bureau registered a case against the couple in 2009.

 

The case is currently pending in court, but is strong enough to have forced a resignation from him from the central cabinet in July this year. Time is running out of Virbhadra Singh's hands. He will need a lot of things to go in his favour if he is aiming for electoral victory in Himachal Pradesh. For now, the Congress looks willing to go ahead in its campaign even minus Virbhadra.

 

 

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