Insinuating Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh for presiding over “the most corrupt regime ever”, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat on Sunday said that “the role of the Prime Minster is questionable.” Pointing out that the Congress-led UPA government has “become synonymous with high-level corruption,” Mr Karat said that the Prime Minster being at the helm of affairs has to “own up responsibility.”
“Whether it is the 2G spectrum affair or the KG Basin Gas contract issue or the appointment of Suresh Kalmadi as the chairman of the CWG organising committee, the role of the PM is questionable. In both the 2G and KG Basin matters, the Prime Minister was fully aware of the developments but did not stop the wrong doings. The PM has to own up the responsibility for presiding over this corrupt regime,” Mr Karat told the media after the conclusion of the three-day CPI(M) politburo and central committee meet in the city.
Asked if he was questioning the personal integrity of the Prime Minister, Mr Karat quipped: “This is not the question of personal integrity. If you are leading a band of pilfers, then you have to take the onus of the wrongs.” CPI(M) general secretary sarcastically added, “Fresh corruption scandals involving the higher echelons of the government are tumbling out everyday. In the CWG corruption, the involvement of the Delhi government and other Central government agencies in corrupt practices has been unearthed in the CAG report submitted to the Parliament.”
He underlined that it is the neo-liberal policies pursued which has made the “UPA government as the facilitator and handmaiden of the loot of public resource by big business houses and corporates.” Referring to the CAG indictment which has “directly implicated Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit,” he wondered: “Normally these persons being at the helm of affairs when implicated are expected to resign. But this has not happened in this case.”