New Delhi: Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Virbhadra Singh resigned Tuesday after a court in Shimla framed corruption charges against him and his wife.
"I have submitted my resignation to the prime minister," the veteran Congress leader told IANS after calling on Manmohan Singh at his official residence here.
The prime minister has accepted the resignation, officials said.
Virbhandra Singh said he would return to Himachal Pradesh, his home state, "to strengthen my party ahead of the forthcoming (assembly) elections.
"I will fight it out both at the grassroots and in courts," he added.
A Shimla court Monday framed charges of corruption against Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh in connection with a 23-year-old case.
The former chief minister of Himachal Pradesh accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state of vindictiveness.
"It has tried to register false cases against me earlier too," Virbhadra Singh told IANS. "In the past I have come out clean. This time also I will come out clean."
The case against Virbhadra Singh pertains to a CD from 1989 which allegedly shows him, when he was chief minister, and his wife demanding a bribe to allow investment in Himachal Pradesh.
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