Hazare should start satyagarh in UP: Digvijay

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Congress national general secretary Digvijay Singh said on Thursday that if social activist Anna Hazare starts a 'satyagrah' in Uttar Pradesh against corruption the party would welcome and support it.

"The Uttar Pradesh government has created records in corruption. We demand Gandhian Anna Hazare that like Maharashtra, he should start a 'satyagrah' against corruption," Singh told reporters here. "We will not only welcome and completely support his satyagrah, but will also provide relevant documents to him," he added.

He said that Congress president Sonia Gandhi was the first politician to support Hazare. He, however, raised doubts over effectiveness of Jan Lokpal Bill.

"The Congress is fighting against corruption, but it cannot be checked only by Jan Lokpal bill," he said. The Congress leader said that the judiciary should decide disproportionate cases, including those against Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav.

He also said that discretionary powers of the government be reduced and law should be simplified so that there is no chance of corruption. He said that the Congress led UPA government had taken stringent action in all cases of corruption whether it was Adarsh housing society, CWG or 2G spectrum. It was due to stringent action taken by the government that former telecom minister A. Raja, senior bureaucrats and his associates were in the jail, he said.

He said that Money Laundering Act was brought by the Congress led government and as a result former Chief Minister of Jharkhand Madhu Koda was sent to jail. "Nobody was spared. Situation is such that under 2G case, top officials of big corporate houses were arrested and are in jail," he said.

"I would like to ask the opposition that which government took such stringent action," he added. Attacking the BJP, Singh alleged that the party has a record of not taking any action on the issue of corruption.

"Bangaru Laxman was caught accepting money, no action was taken against him. CMs of BJP ruled states, including Karnataka, are facing corruption charges, but no action has been taken so far," he alleged.

In a reply to a question of Yoga guru Baba Ramdev raising the issue of corruption, the Congress leader said that he should practice yogasans.

"If he talks about black money then he should reveal that from where 1,100 property came in the last seven to eight years. Then he should also clarify that whether the money he accepted was not black money but tax paid," he alleged.