Cong blames BJP for delay in anti-graft legislation

After the Union Cabinet rejected proposals for promulgation of anti-graft ordinances pushed by Rahul Gandhi, the Congress is all set to launch a shrill campaign blaming the BJP and other opposition parties for blocking the measures in Parliament.

Congress leaders have  put up a brave front defending Rahul over the ordinance proposals contending that the party vice president only backed the principle and substance of the measures but never talked about the methodology and the procedure.

At the same time, they attacked the BJP for resorting to disruptive practices during the recent sessions of Parliament. “We have had hardly any time in the 15th Lok Sabha due to BJP’s indirect obstructive practices,” AICC spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters here.

Another Congress leader, involved with the party campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, said the party would take this “obstructive stand” of the BJP to the people. There was a marked difference between the assurances and the actions of the opposition parties, particularly the BJP, the Congress leader said.

“The Opposition betrayed its true intentions of not really wanting to tackle corruption by not supporting these legislations,” read an editorial in the party mouthpiece Congress Sandesh.

At the same time, the Congress party asserted that Rahul was solidly behind the anti-corruption legislations and would continue to push for the same.

The UPA decided to shelve the proposals to promulgate ordinances to strengthen anti-corruption laws after President Pranab Mukherjee expressed his inability to sign them.