By IANS,
New Delhi: The Congress Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of not being serious in fighting corruption, and said the Narendra Modi government’s decision to challenge the Gujarat High Court verdict upholding appointment of Justice (retd.) R.A. Mehta as Lokayukta showed its real intentions.
Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi said the BJP was speaking in different voices on appointment of Lokayuktas.
“Today, it (Modi government) has said it will move the Supreme Court. This shows their intention. It will not be wrong to say they (BJP leaders) are not serious in fighting corruption…They say something in parliament, something else at Jantar Mantar, something else to the media and take action in some other way in Gujarat. This is the real face of BJP,” he said.
Alvi stressed that the Congress got the Lokpal bill passed in the Lok Sabha but the BJP resisted its passage in the Rajya Sabha.
Answering queries, he, however, said the Modi government had a right to move the apex court.
The Modi government Wednesday suffered a setback when the Gujarat High Court upheld Mehta’s appointment as Lokayukta by Governor Kamla Beniwal. The state government said it would challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court.
Justice Mehta was appointed Lokayukta Aug 26, 2011. For seven years prior to that, the state did not have an ombudsman. But the Modi government objected to Mehta’s appointment on the ground that the governor did not consult it on the matter.