Sonia slams BJP, rejects JPC demand for 2G

Asks Cong to expose BJP "doublespeak, double standards"

PTI | December 13, 2010



Firmly rejecting Opposition demand for a JPC to probe the 2G spectrum scam, Congress president Sonia Gandhi today launched a blistering attack against BJP and asked partymen to expose its "double standards and doublespeak" on the issue of corruption.

"Our government has nothing to hide. Our government has nothing to fear. Our concerns are that we should not undermine the established institutions such as the PAC and the CBI," Gandhi said addressing a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party here.

At the meeting on the concluding day of the Winter Session, which was washed away over the turmoil on the JPC issue, Gandhi said, "People of India will be entirely justified if they take a dim view of the manner in which the opposition, especially the principle opposition party, has disrupted every day of the session."

Party spokesperson Abshishek Singhvi said Gandhi even said that the countrymen would "not forget and forgive the opposition" for the wastage of an entire session.

Party sources said Gandhi did not refer directly to the opposition demand for a JPC but made it abundantly clear that the party thinks that the steps taken by the government in 2G issue were sufficient and that it wanted to get to the root of the matter.

Complimenting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his "wise leadership" and declaring that the party "stands solidly behind him", she made a veiled attack on the opposition's plan to summon the Prime Minister in case the government had yielded to the demand for a JPC.

"Nor should we do anything that will denigrate the institution of the Prime Minister. We cannot sacrifice institutions at the altar of political expediency", Gandhi said.

Maintaining "it is a painful fact that corruption seems to be widespread", she said, the "Congress has always stood for transparency and probity. Even when no charge has been established or no misconduct has been proved, we have asked ministers and chief ministers to step down, pending enquiry."

Stepping up the attack on the BJP on the issue of corruption, Gandhi said, "Can the BJP make the same claim in Karnataka where corruption is rampant? Let us not forget that it was during the BJP-led NDA that a senior minister resigned after the defence scam was exposed but was re-instated even as the inquiry was underway.

"And what about some of the leaders in the same party caught in camera taking money and later rehabilitated? The list is endless," she said in an obvious reference to former BJP President Bangaru Laxman.

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