Former Congress MLA Sudhir Sharma accuses HP's BBN industrial belt of rampant corruption in the past 15 months

HP's BBN industrial belt became den of corruption in past 15 months: Ex-Cong MLA Sudhir Sharma

The Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh industrial belt in Himachal Pradesh has become a den of corruption since Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu became chief minister, former Congress legislator Sudhir Sharma alleged on Monday.

In a video released here, Sharma, who was disqualified from the assembly for defying a Congress whip and later joined the BJP, claimed industrialists were getting phone calls from the state secretariat, telling them to give scrap to particular people or else their factories would not be allowed to operate.

While Sukhu talks about honesty, maximum corruption took place in mining and scrap businesses in the Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh (BBN) belt, forcing industrialists to migrate, alleged the BJP candidate for the Dharamshala assembly bypolls.

''The Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh industrial belt has become a den of corruption during the past 15 months,'' he said.

Is this a change in the system that officers are forcing industrialists to sell scrap to a particular person at pre-determined rates, he asked.

Sharma was among the nine MLAs -- six Congress rebels and three Independents -- who voted in favour of the BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha elections held on February 27.

The Congress rebels were disqualified by the Speaker for defying a whip to be present in the assembly and vote in favour of the government during the cut motions and budget. All the nine legislators later joined BJP and the Congress rebels were fielded by the saffron party from their respective constituencies.

Sharma claimed that the land identified for setting up the Medical Device Park in Nalagarh has been completely degraded due to illegal mining.

''We will present all facts in front of the people in the coming days,'' he said. Hitting out at the chief minister, Sharma said, ''Sukhu is saying that we have left the party under allurement and sold our soul. I would like to remind him that when VV Giri was contesting in presidential elections, Indira Gandhi voted for him going against party lines.'' On Sunday he filed a police complaint against the chief minister for defamation over his ''MLAs sold for Rs 15 crore'' remark. Days earlier, he sent a defamation notice to Sukhu demanding a Rs 5-crore compensation over his remarks. On Sunday, he sought the registration of an FIR against the chief minister.

At a rally in Kutlehar on Thursday Sukhu alleged that the ''six Congress rebels and three Independents were sold for Rs 15 crore each''. A day later, addressing a gathering in Nadaun in Hamirpur district, Sukhu dubbed Sharma as the ''kingpin'' of rebels and alleged that he must have received more than Rs 15 crore.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)