JOIN USSonia exhorts party to fight graft
Seeking to quell the controversy generated by the leaked remarks of her son, Rahul Gandhi, to the US ambassador that Hindu radicalism posed a bigger threat than terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba, Sonia said in her address that both majority and minority communalism were “dangerous”.
The party later adopted a political resolution calling upon the government to probe links between terrorists and the RSS and its sister organisations. However, Rahul, whose views on Hindu radicalism expressed in his conversation with the US envoy Timothy Roemer were leaked by WikiLeaks, did not broach the issue on Sunday and confined his speech to corruption.
The Congress president used the presence of over 20,000 party delegates at the session to pep-up party workers and also as a damage-control exercise in the wake of staggering scams and controversies that have beset the the UPA government.
Sensing that the issue of corruption has come to dominate public consciousness, particularly after a huge Opposition outcry over 2G spectrum scam, Sonia as well as Rahul, called for fast-tracking corruption cases against public servants including those against politicians.
To clear up the party’s scam-tainted image, Sonia suggested an agenda that would require its chief ministers and ministers in the state as well as at the Centre to relinquish all discretionary powers relating to allocation of land.
She also suggested state-funding of elections and legislative procedures to ensure transparency in public procurement.
At the same time, Sonia criticised the Opposition for failing to tackle corruption and especially targeted the BJP for its “inaction” on rampant corruption in Karnataka.“Even when no charge has been established, we have asked the ministers and chief ministers to step down, pending enquiry. How many other parties can make such a claim?” she asked.