At a time when Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is going on an overdrive to get his pet anti-corruption bills passed even by ordinance route, there have been reports that the party might give tickets to some of its tainted leaders. The move has questioned the credibility of Gandhi's sincerity about his quest against corruption.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi. PTI
"Why would the party field candidates if they lose their seats after they win? You are assuming that (former Union minister) Suresh Kalmadi, (former Union minister) Pawan Kumar Bansal and (former Maharashtra chief minister) Ashok Chavan will get tickets. But for your information all these cases are sub-judice and they are yet to be convicted," Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha told CNN-IBN during a panel discussion.
However, the Congress representative did not accept that Gandhi is to be blamed for failing to get all anti-corruption bills passed in Parliament.
"When you look back, the UPA has actually created some of the strongest anti-corruption laws. But all bills could not be passed because of the criminal waste of time by an obstructionist opposition. We must give Gandhi credit for the anti-corruption laws. We are committed to the anti-corruption plank," Jha said.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, who participated in the discussion, chose to differ.
"Why did the legislations come in the last session? Do you think it is even humanly possible to pass all of them at one go? All these years they did not do anything and now at the last moment they are going for the ordinance route. This is nothing but Lok Sabha election gimmick by Gandhi," Patra said.
NCPRI member Anjali Bharadwaj blamed both sides of the benches in Parliament for the fiasco in framing a complete set of anti-corruption laws.
"In 2011, all political parties promised on the floor of the House that the Citizen's Charter and Grievance Redressal Bill 2011 will be passed. But they failed to deliver. When Parliament has the political will they can pass the bill in an hour. But apart from the Whistleblowers Protection Bill nothing got passed in the last session," Bharadwaj said. "In fact, bringing a legislation will not change anything unless there is s a political will," she said.
Adopting a similar stand, Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson Rahul Mehra simultaneously attacked both the Congress and the BJP.
"The anti-corruption stand is just vote bank politics for the Congress and the BJP. We threw away power to fight corruption. What was Rahul Gandhi doing all this while for 10 years? Unlike other parties, AAP will not field candidates if any credible evidence of corruption are found against them and will withdraw them even minutes before the polls. Therefore it is not fair to paint AAP with the same brush as Congress and BJP," Mehra said.
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