The Bharatiya Janata Party seems to have taken inspiration from Marx – Groucho, not Karl. “These are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others,” said the famous wag. As H D Kumaraswamy, the JD-S chief in Karnataka, presented before the media a fresh set of “evidence” against chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, it’s high time BJP clarified or took action. Its campaign against the central government on corruption will smack of opportunism till then. Let’s admit: it is after a long time, BJP seems to have got its act together as an effective opposition party and put the government on the mat. Parliament remains paralysed on the issue of corruption and several heads have rolled: Shashi Tharoor (Kochi IPL scam), Ashok Chavan (Adarsh housing scam), Suresh Kalmadi (CWG scam) and A Raja (2G spectrum scam). In many ways, this is a positive development, the most important one of which is to bring corruption in public life to the centre stage of national debate. There is no denying that corruption is rampant and that the central government has to a lot to explain. It is also obvious that the central government is merely staging a public expiation; by way of getting Tharoor, Chavan, Kalmadi and Raja to resign. That it has no intention of actually punishing them is clear because not a single FIR; the first step to begin the process of bringing them to justice - has been registered against any of them. The BJP has sought a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into all of these scams, without talking much about beginning the legal proceedings. For the past few days, parliament has been stalled to press for a JPC into the 2G spectrum scam. The motive, quite clearly, is political because a JPC provides an opportunity to keep the issue alive for a longer time. Had probity in public life or punishment for corruption been their motive, the party would have put its house in order first. A glaring example of corruption in its own rank is that of Yeddyurappa. He has been accused of shielding the Reddy brothers of Bellary - Karunakar, Janrdhan and Somasekhar; who have amassed wealth through illegal mining of iron ore. He went to the extent of banning export of iron ore but never touched the Reddy brothers in spite ample evidence and damning report by the state lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde. Now Yeddyurappa is accused of making irregular land allotments to his two sons and daughter. One son has been given a residential plot in Bangalore and several industrial plots have been allotted to firms owned by the three near Bangalore. While he has been brazening out the call for his resignation by saying that he is merely “following the tradition set by the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular)”, the BJP’s central leadership has kept silence. If the BJP wants people to take its fight against corruption seriously, the first thing for it to do is to ask Yeddyurappa to step down and withdraw the land he allotted to his sons and daughter. Ashok Chavan had to resign as chief minister of Maharashtra for a much smaller crime; getting his in-laws three flats in the Adarsh society. Once it gets the CM to resign can it then claim truly the moral high ground to demand a JPC for 2G spectrum scam or stall parliament.