India's image abroad has been sullied due to a series of scams in the country, senior BJP leader L K Advani said at a public meeting in Sambalpur on Sunday night.

"India's image abroad has been tarnished during the last two years due to large-scale corruption and a series of scams," Advani said during his Jan Chetna Yatra.

The reputation earned by the country as a strong democracy and an emerging global power had been lost due to rampant corruption during the UPA rule, he alleged.

Referring to the 2G spectrum scandal, the former deputy prime minister said for the first time in the country's history a sitting union minister was sent to jail because of alleged involvement in corruption.

Advocating a mechanism to eliminate the practice of acceptance and offering of bribe, Advani said concrete steps should be taken to bring back the black money stashed abroad.

Stating that the current yatra was the sixth major yatra of his political career, he said he was missing veteran Atal Behari Vajpayee this time. "During my earlier five yatras, Vajpayeeji was always with me which was big support," he said.