Rahul questions BJP double standards

Taking a dig at BJP leaders for harping continuously on corruption, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said they had failed to take note of their own corrupt government in Karnataka for five long years.

Addressing a rally in Bellary on Friday, he said the party had also not taken notice of corruption in the BJP-ruled states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Hitting out at BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Rahul said that the party did not have the moral authority to speak on corruption after it re-inducted Yeddyurappa who was arrested on charges of corruption.

Ridiculing the previous BJP government in Karnataka as the “Bellary government,” he said everybody in the country knew how ministers from Bellary looted natural resources. 

Without naming former minister Janardhana Reddy, Rahul said it was now impossible for all those involved in the mining scam to come back to power. If the Congress, which has ordered a comprehensive inquiry into the destruction and looting of natural resources in and around Bellary comes back to power, every paisa will be recovered from those involved and will be given back to the people–the natural owners–in the form of development work, he added.

Speaking on women empowerment at the political level, Rahul said the party had decided to extend 50 per cent reservation, currently in vogue at the panchayat level, to all Assemblies and the Lok Sabha. Further, 2,000 women police stations will be opened across the country to battle crimes against women, he added.