Manmohan led most corrupt govt in free India: Advani

 Launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, senior BJP leader L K Advani on Sunday said as his decade-long tenure as prime minister draws to a close, he would have presided over the “most corrupt" government in independent India.

“Manmohan Singh began his tenure with a clean personal reputation. But as his decade-long tenure is coming to a close, he would leave behind him a record of having presided over the most corrupt government in Independent India,” Advani said in his latest blog.

Recalling the February 13 mayhem in Lok Sabha which saw a Congress MP using pepper spray in the House against Telangana bill, Advani alleged that it had driven Parliament to an “all-time low”.

“Most members were shocked to see as many as half a dozen ministers of the present government totally disregarding the presence of prime minister and Soniaji in the House, rush into the well of the House and join the ugly ruckus that was taking place, when amidst shouting of slogans for and against division of Andhra Pradesh, parliamentary papers were being torn and thrown all around,” he said.

 “The limits of unsavory behavior were crossed the next day when apart from a repeat performance of the previous day a Congress Party MP pulled out a black pepper spray and started spraying it all around so that several MPs including Sushma Swaraj had tears in her eyes, and many others were seen coughing in acute discomfort,” he said.
Terming the pepper spray incident as the “lowest point” of UPA-II, Advani drew a parallel with the cash-for-vote scam under UPA-I, saying whistleblowers, including three BJP MPs, were jailed instead of being rewarded for exposing it. 

Advani said that “no less shameful” for the prestige and reputation of Parliament than the cash-for-episode scam that occurred under UPA-I was the ugly scenes witnessed under UPA-II and recalled that under NDA led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, three new states were created “without even a ripple of disturbance”.

The BJP leader said, “With the present government, session after session has had to be adjourned due to chaos created over Telangana between the supporters and opponents of division.”

Referring to several scandals like Commonwealth Games, 2G Spectrum scam, he said “Most of the scams under the Congress governments were exposures made by CAG or the judiciary and related to bribes allegedly received by ministers/officials. But I hold that the most disgraceful scam during UPA-I was the cash-for-votes scam,” he said.