The National Democratic Alliance (NDA)'s working chairman, L.K. Advani, has asserted that the fight against corruption will continue irrespective of the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the 2G spectrum allocation scam, and urged the people to play a central role in it.
Addressing a public meeting dubbed as a ‘Mahaporatam' on the Nizam College grounds here on Thursday as part of the NDA's anti-corruption rallies in different parts of the country, Mr. Advani said India could achieve progress only if corruption was totally rooted out, and that it was the duty of every citizen not to compromise on any type of corruption and dishonesty.
Referring to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remark on coalition compulsions, Mr. Advani said that former Prime Ministers Morarji Desai and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who had also headed coalition governments, never compromised on corruption while upholding the coalition dharma.
Mentioning scams relating to the Commonwealth Games, spectrum allocation and the Adarsh housing society, he said that for the first time, Parliament did not function even for a day during the winter session.
Mr. Advani said that hints had been given that a JPC would be constituted, but its terms of reference and chairman were yet to be finalised. It might be constituted on the second day of the budget session, he added.
Telangana issue
Mr. Advani reiterated the Bharatiya Janata Party's stand in favour of the creation of a separate Telangana State.
Though it wanted to create the State while carving out Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand during the NDA regime, the party could not go ahead because the Telugu Desam, a partner in the NDA at the time, had opposed it.
BJP national president Nitin Gadkari said 2010 would go down in the history as year of scandals and corruption. He wanted to know why Dr. Singh failed to act despite knowing about corruption in 2G spectrum allocation.
Accusing the Congress of betraying the people on the creation of Telangana, Mr. Gadkari said the NDA would come to power at the Centre and would fulfil its promise in this regard.
Janata Dal (United) national president Sharad Yadav said the NDA, if it returned to power, would eliminate corruption and jail those involved in the scams.
Former BJP president M. Venkaiah Naidu, Shiromani Akali Dal national general secretary Balvinder Singh Bullor, State BJP president G. Kishan Reddy and others addressed the rally.
