New Delhi, Apr 24 : Senior BJP leader L K Advani today launched a broadside against the government on corruption, raking up issues like the “bribing” of MPs during the 2008 Trust Vote and Wikileaks expose.
“Manmohan Singh has been Prime Minister of the country since May 2004. The only serious trial of strength his government has had to face in Parliament was in July, 2008. The government, reduced to a minority, decided to win the confidence vote by bribing MPs. And this was done openly and shamelessly,” Advani said in the latest post on his blog.
In his post, which primarily seeks to to attack the government on its approach towards nuclear plants even after the Fukushima disaster in Japan, Advani talks about controversies that have surrounded the UPA I and II.
He said the three BJP MPs, who dumped the cash in Lok Sabha on July 22, 2008, actually played the role of whistle-blowers.
Advani also referred to the reports based on WikiLeaks last month narrating how “two chests full of currency notes amounting to Rs 50-60 crores were shown to a US Embassy official at the residence of Congress MP Satish Sharma.”
“The unending series of scams that are making the headlines these days and the continuing reprimands being administered to the Manmohan Singh Government by the Supreme Court are forceful pointers to its loss of moral centre ethical deficit as a Union Minister described it,” Advani said without naming Home Minister P Chidambaram.
Accusing the government of “stubborn refusal to draw any lessons from Fukushima”, Advani said it illustrated how “Government has lost even its political bearings”.
Noting that the tragedy in Japan has disturbed all countries of the world having nuclear power plants, the BJP leader said, “against the above background, it is surprising to find Government of India spokesmen practically ridiculing everyone who voices reservations about rushing headlong into the direction of new nuclear energy plants.”
Advani also attacked Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh for his “adamant stand on Jaitapur”.
“If any environmentalist strikes a note of caution that the tragedy in Japan should not be disregarded, particularly in parts of the country which are known to be in a seismic zone, he invites sarcastic remarks from the that it is paradoxical that the environmentalists are against nuclear energy,” he rued.
Ramesh had said that he was trying to to balance four objectives on the issue of Jaitapur that include amount of energy required to sustain a growth rate of nine per cent, proportion of fuel mix, environmental concerns; and strategic diplomacy, specially after the Civilian Nuclear Deal, he said.
“One can understand and appreciate first three. But how does strategic diplomacy become an objective for Environment Minister unless it is acknowledged that one of the objectives of signing this treaty even at the risk of losing UPA's majority was to promote the commercial interests of US nuclear firms...Is it not strange that this most important factor of safety does not even figure in the parameters spelt out by Jairam Ramesh,” he said. PTI
