BJP assails Rahul’s ‘contrived’ dissent on Adarsh report

‘Why are you silent on Commonwealth, 2G and coal scams?’

New Delhi, July 26, 2013::Senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition, Rajyasabha, Arun Jaitley at the party's Election Information Campaign Committee meeting , in New Delhi on Friday, July 26, 2013. photo Rajeev Bhatt

Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitely has raised questions about Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s recent actions perceived as “anti corruption crusade” and dubbed them as “contrived” and “manufactured”.

Taking on the Gandhi scion, Mr. Jaitely on Saturday said the crusade against corruption has to be continuous and consistent. “It cannot be sporadic. It can not be a put-on exercise. Sporadic reactions dramatised before the media are only intended to show oneself as different even though you are still a part of the same cesspool.”

In reference to Mr. Gandhi’s recent disapproval of the Maharashtra Government for not accepting the Commission of Inquiry report on the Adarsh issue, Mr. Jaitely said: “If Mr. Gandhi feels so strongly on the Adarsh issue, the guilty must be prosecuted and certainly not be the country’s Home Minister. This anger is not natural, it is contrived. This is a case of a manufactured dissent.”

Mr. Jaitely said Mr. Gandhi has been selective in targeting issues of corruption, while he publicly denounced an Ordinance cleared by the Union Cabinet to negate a Supreme Court judgement which provided for immediate disqualification of MPs and MLAs after conviction as “non sense”, he has been silent on the issue of corruption during the Commonwealth Games and the 2G scam.

“…Is this a contrived anger and a manufactured dissent aimed at image correction or is it a genuine expression of opinion? The Congress Party and its governments have a scandalous record on the issue of corruption. It has recently decided to align with a convicted Lalu Yadav. The anger was missing. In the 2G spectrum allocation scam where a monumental loss has been caused to the National Exchequer, the Congress Party has tried to put a lid on the scandal by producing a spurious JPC report which carried no credibility. It exonerates the guilty and blames the NDA government. In the Coal block allocation scandal, the illegally allocated blocks are yet to be cancelled. There is no urge in him to stand up and protest. He remained a mute spectator when day after day scams took place in relation to the Commonwealth Games,” Mr. Jaitely said.