In battle gear, Vajpayee attacks Sonia

In battle gear, Vajpayee attacks Sonia
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, MARCH 25: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, joined by leaders of his NDA allies, today launched a massive counter-attack on the Opposition, mainly the Congress, over the Tehelka episode. Speaking at an NDA rally held in the capital today, Vajpayee admitted there was corruption in the system and stressed the need for evolving a mechanism to check it. And though the BJP has rubbished the sting operation by Tehelka, the Prime Minister said there was no need to blame the journalists for the expose.

While Vajpayee gave a clean chit to former Defence Minister George Fernandes, none of the speakers, including BJP leaders, chief ministers and NDA leaders, rose to defend the former BJP chief, Bangaru Laxman, who was caught by Tehelka’s spy cams receiving wads of currency notes.

Attacking the Congress for resorting to low-grade politics and undemocratic means, Vajpayee accepted its challenge to the survival of his Government. ‘‘They have sounded the bugle, now there is no going back,’’ he said. He was referring to Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s speech at Bangalore last week where she had declared a war against his Government.

‘‘The Government will not bow before the Opposition tirade,’’ Vajpayee said, regretting ‘‘abusive’’ words like traitors and enemies hurled at him and the Government by Sonia. ‘‘Either they don’t know what they are saying or they are not serious about their utterances,’’ he said.

Despite their presence in strength, NDA leaders sought to distance themselves from the BJP by not sharing the BJP’s podium. They spoke from a different podium and mostly delved on the progress of their respective ministries. MDMK leader Vaiko criticised the Congress saying the party which was trying to save Sonia’s private secretary Vincent George was using the Tehelka tapes in seeking George’s resignation.

Earlier, Vajpayee admitted Tehelka had exposed shortcomings in the system. ‘‘There is need for introspection. A suitable mechanism should be evolved to ensure that such incidents do not recur,’’ he told reporters at the end of BJP’s national executive.

At the rally he vehemently criticised the Congress, recalling how its Government had turned the country into a ‘‘prison’’ during Emergency to save its chair.

He said while he would not claim that corruption has been totally tackled during the past three years since the NDA came to power, he could assert that the battle against corruption would continue. ‘‘How can one eradicate something so fast which was going on for the past 50 years,’’ Vajpayee asked.

Fernandes challenged the Opposition to bring even one case of kickbacks in defence purchases made during his tenure as Defence Minister. Taking a dig at Tehelka, Fernandes said his probity in public life could be proved from the fact that despite being in politics for 50 years he still did not have a house of his own. Raising doubts about Tehelka’s credibility, he asked why only a few hours of the 100-hour recording was shown to the people. Suggesting that the remaining 96 hours might actually show defence personnel not accepting bribe, he added.