By IANS,
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday began its “nationwide anti-corruption” awareness campaign and termed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi as the “producers and directors” of the alleged scams in the country.
At the first public meeting of the campaign in the national capital, party chief Nitin Gadkari sarcastically likened the alleged scams of 2G spectrum and Commonwealth Games to Bollywood movies.
He called the Congress “Choron Ki Baraat” and “Chor Machaye Shor” – Hindi film names.
“Has all this (corruption scams) happened without the knowledge of Sonia and the prime minister? They are producers and directors of these films,” he said, amid loud anti-corruption slogans from BJP cadres in a packed Mavalankar Auditorium.
He slammed the Congress for stalling the crucial Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting last week convened to finalise its report on the 2G spectrum allocation. He alleged that the Congress created the ruckus because numbers favoured it.
“You can do it in the Lok Sabha but the public won’t forgive you. They will throw you out,” he said.
PAC chairman Murli Manohar Joshi blamed senior Congress leaders for controlling the PAC activities on April 28 – when the majority of members rejected the panel report that blamed Manmohan Singh for “indirectly” giving jailed former communications minister A. Raja the go-ahead to sell scarce telecom waves at throwaway prices.
Eleven members belonging to the Congress, the DMK and one each from the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party voted against adoption of the report.
“They (Congress members) got the calls from the Congress office,” Joshi said, warning the ruling party that “the public will throw you in a dust bin”.
He was referring to a remark by Parliamentary Affairs Minister P.K. Bansal who said “the place of this report is in the dustbin, since it has been rejected by the majority”.
Joshi said since the report had nailed some senior politicians, “I am worried you will soon be in the dustbin of Tihar Jail”.
Gadkari said Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee during his recent visit to Vietnam praised the PAC as an important check and balance system in India’s parliamentary democracy. “But at home they are criticising it and blaming Joshi-ji for playing politics.”
He vowed to take the BJP’s mass awareness anti-corruption campaign to every household in India and expose the Congress leaders involved in the corruption scams.
He said the Congress had always resorted to such “undemocratic” means and indulged in such “shameful” acts whenever it has found itself in trouble. “It is an unfortunate event in India’s parliamentary democracy.”