By IANS,
Lucknow : Stating that his party will support anyone who fights against corruption, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi here Thursday launched a scathing attack on the central government, saying it was not serious about fighting graft.
Asked about the BJP’s stand on yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s proposed hunger strike over corruption and black money stashed abroad, Naqvi said: “Our party will support anyone who stands to fight against corruption… Without bothering about any profit or loss, our party will support everyone interested in weeding out corruption from the country.”
Commenting on the contentious issue of bringing the prime minister under the ambit of the proposed Lokpal bill — the reason for a deadlock between civil society members and government representatives on the joint drafting committee, Naqvi said: “Our party’s stand on the issue is quite clear. We feel there’s nothing wrong in bringing the prime minister in the purview of the (Lokpal) bill.”
“BJP was the first party that advocated for this. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, while he was the prime minister of India, had also supported this view.”
Terming the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government a “history-sheeter of corruption”, Naqvi said: “The central government is just not serious and honest about strengthening the Lokpal bill for fighting corruption. The UPA has always tried to project that those who are ready to fight graft are corrupt, while those in the government are honest.”
When asked that on one hand the BJP has been demanding death penalty for parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru, while on the other hand its ally in Punjab government — Shiromani Akalai Dal (SAD) — has sought the prime minister’s intervention to save death row convict Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, Naqvi said, “We do not agree with them (SAD) over the issue.”
“Cases of terrorism should not be discriminated. The law should take its own course without the interference from any quarter,” he said.
Bhullar was sentenced to death by a trial court in August 2001 for plotting attacks on senior Punjab police officer Sumedh Saini in 1991 and the then Youth Congress president M.S. Bitta in 1993, which led to many deaths in Delhi.
Bhullar was associated with the Khalistan Liberation Force.