The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday charged the Congress with indulging in “diversionary tactics” by alleging that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has terror links while completely ignoring major scandals of corruption staring it in the face.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi had admittedly received the resignation of the Chief Minister of a major State like Maharashtra following the Adarsh Housing Society scandal, all in the name of Kargil war widows. Yet, she chose to remain silent on this, BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said.
Senior BJP leaders said that in the winter session of Parliament starting next week, the party would put the spotlight on the “mega scandals” that were now plaguing the ruling party.
“Three eminent persons” from the Congress and the government spoke at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) meeting and yet there was complete silence on the mega scams in allocation of 2G spectrum, the implementation of Commonwealth Games-related projects and now the allotment of flats in south Mumbai at prices less then one-tenth of the market value, Ms. Sitharaman noted.
She was referring to the speeches by Ms. Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi. All of them steered clear of the recent scandal related to the Mumbai housing society.
Soon after the Adarsh scandal broke out, a probe by two senior Congressmen and Ministers, Pranab Mukherjee and A.K. Antony, was announced. But this was not an internal party matter, pointed out Ms. Sitaraman. The allotment of flats issue was being dealt with as if it were an internal disciplinary matter of the party, she said, wondering why a criminal case was not registered.
Had the Congress become indifferent or even neutral to corruption? Why the resignation of the Maharashtra Chief Minister has not been accepted, she said.
And yet, she said, instead of highlighting and denouncing the string of scandals that were exposed, the Congress leadership tried to target the RSS leadership and tarnish it with the brush of terrorism. This was nothing but an instance of diversionary tactics that would not succeed. The coming winter session would indeed focus the spotlight on “shameless corruption.”
