Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday for countenancing the suspension of Bharatiya Janata Party MP Kirti Azad from the party for raising the issue of corruption in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) as the move, which would “silence” those who speak out on corruption, was only to shield Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
“During the election campaign, Mr. Modi spoke about scams and said he would not allow corruption. But now scams are taking place and the latest is the cricket scam, and the MP who raised it has been suspended [from the BJP],” Mr. Gandhi said in Lucknow while on a visit to his constituency, Amethi.
“Mr. Modi used to say na khaoonga, na khaney doonga [will not engage in corruption myself, nor will allow others]. But today he is silent. People have started losing faith,” he added. Mr. Gandhi said the Prime Minister should take action and conduct an inquiry into the affairs of the DDCA of which Mr. Jaitley was the president for 13 years till 2013.
“Benchmark on graft”
His party too took a cue and for the fifth day attacked the ruling party and the Union Finance Minister on the DDCA scam. Former Law Minister Ashwini Kumar spoke at the Congress headquarters in Delhi and questioned the NDA government over its “benchmark on corruption” reminding the BJP that it used to make an issue of such incidents during the UPA regime.
“Amid expectations of a fair and credible probe into the DDCA scam and demands that the Prime Minister sack his Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to ensure probity in public life, Mr. Modi has done the opposite. The Congress is forced to ask why are the Prime Minister and the BJP shielding, supporting and protecting perpetrators of corruption,” Mr. Kumar said.
