Congress should lead struggle against corruption: Sonia Gandhi

Calling corruption a "deep rooted malice", Congress president Sonia Gandhi Sunday said the party must lead the 'struggle' to counter its effect.

"Let me reiterate corruption at all levels is a deep rooted malice and all sections of society are effected by it. As a party we must lead struggle to combat its effect,"  Sonia Gandhi said at  the party's 'Chintan Shivir' here.

The 'Chintan Shivir', the Congress' introspective meet, began here Jan 18 and will conclude Sunday.

The Congress president said corruption was the main concern of the nation when the party held its session at Burari in July 2011.

Sonia Gandhi said that a five-point agenda to deal with corruption was given and the party has moved on with it.

The key among the steps taken was introducing Lokpal bill in the parliament and introducing more transparency in process of allocating natural resources, said the Congress president.

"We have introduced path breaking legislation for grievance redressal, whistle blowers, and historic 'apka paisa apke hath' (your money in your hands, the direct cash transfer scheme) initiative," she said.

Congress has been under severe attack from opposition and civil society groups for several major corruption cases that surfaced during the tenure of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government led by the party.