Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur on Monday alleged that it is not the Cabinet but the Chief Minister’s ‘mitra mandal’ which is running the state government.Addressing a press conference here, he said it is the Chief Minister’s coterie of friends who are calling the shots and taking all important decisions. He alleged that the entire Cabinet is deep in corruption and Himachal has been put on ‘sale’ as HP Tourism Development Corporation hotels are being given out on lease.Thakur said questions are being raised on the Congress Rajya Sabha candidate Anurag Sharma.“He is being touted as an ordinary Congress worker but, as per his election affidavit, he has assets of over Rs 23 crore. Though it is the internal matter of the Congress to decide their Rajya Sabha candidate, now it is Congress leaders who are raising these questions on Sharma’s candidature,” he said.He said there was intense lobbying by some senior Congress leaders to get Rajya Sabha nomination, and one leader even came to Shimla in anticipation.“The CM kept assuring all contenders that he would support them, but this time he even misled his own friends, one of whom had even completed all formalities for filing nomination,” he said.Hitting back at CM Sukhu for accusing the previous BJP regime of not reducing the debt burden of the state despite getting Rs 70,000 crore Revenue Deficit Grant (RDG) and GST compensation cess, Thakur said this money was spent on undertaking development works across the state which have now come to a standstill. The former CM said 300 trees being felled despite permission being given for cutting merely 25 trees had come to light in the Shillai area of Sirmour. “Political patronage is being given by a minister to those who have engaged in illegal felling. Only three trees can be cut on private land as per norms,” he said.Thakur alleged that in another incident, a Congress leader from Mandi district also cut 2,000 trees in anticipation of getting a depot in the name of his wife. “These trees were cut and stacked without permission, but when the issue became viral on social media, the trees were buried and thrown down the hillside,” he alleged.