Sonia denounces corruption

In the recent plenary session of the congress party, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi denounced corruption!!!. She acknowledged corruption is a problem.  She noted that the Chief Minister and Ministers accused in the scandal were asked to resign before they were found guilty. She Challenged whether BJP can do the same in Karnataka. She conveniently forgot many facts.

1. IPL Scnadal

Shashi Tharoor was forced to resign after Lalit Modi disclosed that her fiance has a £10 million stake in an Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket team. This opened up can of worms related to IPL accounting. There were allegations against Sharad Pawar and his daughter. No action against them since they are allies. Shashi Tharoor resigned not just because of this fact. His comments were not politically correct and group within Congress waiting to pull his leg. He became scape goat. After eight months, no one is talking about this scandal. It is out in a back burner and will be revived when there is a political need.

2. Adarsh Housing Scam

In Adarsh Housing Scam, Mr. Ashok Chanvan resigned but only after High Court observed "a clear-cut case of manipulation". Then mysteriously all the relevant files went missing. This could not have happened without political, police and criminal nexus. After resignation of Ex-CM, the case is moving nowhere.


3. Common Wealth Games
 Mr. Suresh Kalmadi was Organizer for Common Wealth Games held in New Delhi. There were allegation of wide spread corruption. Mr.Kalmadi is sitting congress MP and president of various sports organizations in India. There were couple of raids related to this by CBI. As usual moving forward in snail phase.

4. 2G Scam

Recently Mr. Raja, DMK minister was forced resign as Communication Minister from Union Cabinet. More than a year back Mr. Subramania Swamy requested PM for approval to prosecute him. The approval never came. However CAG report and Supreme Court comments forced Mr. Raja's resignation. (Read my other blog for additional details).

I do not believe Congress will do much on Corruption. This is just a propaganda to weaken the opposition and buy time. Here are my arguments.


1. When there is a serious allegation, it is a tradition to step down from power. This allow the responsible entities to act with freedom. In all cases, the individuals were forced to resign only after court questioned inaction or very late to cut the political losses. 


2. Why Congress is hesitant to appoint JPC? If she is serious about it, Congress should have appointed the JPC. Congress argues that opposition is trying to ill treat the PM. No one is stating that PM is involved in this anyway. They are questioning only his inaction. I believe Congress is trying to protect Sonia Gandhi and her family by doing this. Dr. Swamy accuses Sonia's sisters have involvement in 2G scam. 

It is important to note that "The Hindu" newspaper acknowledged that JPC investigation on Bofors helped them to acquire the key documents and helped their investigation. It looks like Congress do not want to make that mistake again.

3. In India CBI comes under PMO and  Enforcement Directorate comes under Department of Finance. I do not believe they will act independently. Unfortunately those two entities are used as political tools in these types of cases in the past. Hopefully Supreme Court Monitoring of the case may help to some extent.

4. If Congress is serious about these scandals, why they are not moving forward fast enough.

5. We all know what happened in Bofors case. At the Ottavio Quattrocchi was allowed to withdraw the ill earned money. Congress government sent an Asst. Director for release of his funds without giving time to evaluate the further action.

6. With Nira Radia tapes in public domain, we all know how cabinet ministers are decided. When Corporate involved in Cabinet Ministry selection, it certainly paves way for corruption. 2G spectrum is one sample.

I do not believe the words means action in this case. Congress is  trying to stop the bleeding accusing BJP for inaction. Congress conveniently omitted that fact whole opposition stalled Parliament in favor of JPC. CBI raids were just an eyewash. With the ample time and power, it is foolish to expect the individuals to have any incriminating documents.

In my view 2G scam will be in lime light until another scam or Tamil Nadu election which ever is earlier. Congress is absolutely counting on this. This will enable them to protect Mrs. Gandhi and her family. Raja is scape goat (even though he is involved) and will eventually be acquitted. Mr. Karunanidhi family will get away by politically aligning to party in power.

The ultimate looser is "Indian Citizens".