Facing criticism for his silence on the way the Congress Government in Maharashtra tried to bury the Adarsh scam panel report, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Friday asked for the review of the report, but he remained mum on the denial of sanction to CBI to prosecute former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan.
At the same time, sending a larger message that he was determined to fight the menace of corruption, Rahul said all Congress-ruled States will have lokayukta in place by February 28.
Talking to the media after addressing a meeting of dozen Chief Ministers of the Congress-ruled States “to create a mechanism to fight corruption,” Rahul disapproved the decision of the Congress Government in Maharashtra, which rejected the report of the judicial commission on the Adarsh scam.
“Personally, I don’t agree with that decision. They should reconsider that,” Rahul said. He was flanked by the Congress CMs, including Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan.
In his Maha Garjana Rally in Mumbai on Sunday, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi had attacked Rahul over talking about corruption in an ‘innocent’ way at FICCI last Saturday. “I was listening to a top Congress leader speaking against corruption. look at his audacity. They are so deep in corruption and still he presents himself with an innocent face. On the one hand, they rejected the Adarsh report, on the other they lecture on freeing India of corruption and take credit for the lokpal Bill,” Modi had said.
Rahul’s assertion came when he was talking about the Congress’ determination to fight corruption across the nation, especially in the Congress-ruled States. “There is no question of protecting anybody...They should reconsider,” Rahul said and hastily left the venue without entertaining any further question.
later, Prithviraj Chavan told the media that he would consult his Cabinet colleagues on the issue and then decide the future course of action.
Without naming any political party or an individual, Rahul, said the Congress is committed on a framework for corruption-free society. “The Opposition benches have not been cooperating in the passage of several anti-graft bills. They do not have any vision like we do. Yehlog (Opposition) badi badi baatein karten hain,” Rahul said.
The meeting set a five-point agenda to tackle the menace of corruption and price rise.
The meeting was necessitated after the Congress’ humiliating defeat in the just-concluded Assembly polls and Congress president Sonia Gandhi admitting that price was an issue for the major loss in the electoral battle.
The CMs agreed to enact new lokayuktya legislation as provided in the lokpal and lokayukta Act 2013 by February 28, 2014. The Congress-ruled States will also invoke the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 to deal sternly with hoarding, black-marketing and profiteering.
Besides, the Congress-ruled States will remove from the list Rsfruits and vegetables’ from their Agricultural Produce Markets Committee (APMC) by January 15, 2014 so that farmers have a choice of where to sell their produce. The States will also implement reforms of the PDS as stipulated in the National Food Security Act, 2013.
Rahul parried questions on Narendra Modi’s comments that he had felt “pain” and “anguish” over the 2002 Gujarat riots.