By Manish Chand, IANS,
On Board Air India One: With a spate of scams damaging the credibility of his government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday vowed to cleanse the Indian politics of the scourge of corruption but declined to comment on the case of 2G spectrum allocation, saying the matter is in court.”As far as the 2G investigations are concerned, the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) is at work and the matter is in the court. It would not be proper for me to make any comments on the progress of the case,” the prime minister told reporters on board his special aircraft while returning from a six-day visit to Ethiopia and Tanzania.
“Corruption is something that concerns all citizens and I share the concern. There have been aberrations that have been brought up. We are very very sincere in our desire to curb corruption,” said the prime minister when asked whether the recent arrests in the 2G and the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG) related scams had restored the faith of the common man in the system.
“We are open to all new ideas. Whatever will help to clean Indian politics of the scourge of corruption will have full support of our government,” he said.
The United Progressive Alliance-II (UPA-II) has been rocked by a series of scandals ranging from alleged financial irregularities in hosting the 2010 CWG to allegations of selling second generation airwaves to select telecom companies at rock bottom prices.
A former UPA minister Andimuthu Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi are in jail in connection with the 2G scam, and Congress’ high-profile MP Suresh Kalmadi is in custody for the alleged lapses in the conduct of the CWG.