CM skips mosque event after BJP''s objection

Tribune News Service

Shimla, December 10

The move to construct a mosque in the congested Kasumpti here has drawn flak from the BJP, leading to tension in the area. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh was supposed to lay the stone of the mosque being constructed by the Wakf Board, but sensing trouble, he skipped the function.

Suresh Bhardwaj, former state BJP president and local MLA from Shimla, has taken strong exception to the move. He cautioned the CM and the chairman of Wakf Board against vitiating the atmosphere by going with the proposal.

Bhardwaj said it was a conspiracy to construct the mosque in the area, as there was hardly any Muslim population and it was a deliberate move to stir communal tension.

He also told mediapersons that the building plan of the proposed mosque had not been approved by the Shimla Municipal Corporation (MC) and it should take notice of it.

Accusing the MC of indulging in corruption, Bhardwaj said, “The MC has become a den of corruption and instead of focusing on development, which have come to a standstill, it is engaged in other activities.”

“People are facing rationing of water for over a year, sanitation is in poor state and over 200 people in the Dhobi Ghat area are being forced to defecate in open. The MC has turned a blind eye to all these issue,” he alleged and accused the CPM of ruining the town.

Claiming the people was fed up with the working of Congress and the CPM and wanted change, he said they would defeat both the parties in the MC poll.