Sonia to Oppn: Spare us your double standards

“On the other hand,those who have been crying hoarse over corruption have always been adopting double standards.”

“Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is serious on the issue of corruption and is personally striving to make the system corruption-free. Stern action has been taken on complaints of corruption whenever needed,” she said.

Gandhi was addressing a rally here at the end of the first phase of the Congress’ Jansandesh Yatra.

Sonia also asked the Opposition to take a serious look at their own homes before pointing fingers at the ruling party. “I want to tell them to stop these allegations and look within.”

“The UPA government has taken enough measures to ensure a corruption-free system and initiated strict action whenever needed. The Opposition should also initiate such measures,” she said.

The Congress chief also said the government was determined to remove corruption at all cost. “Corruption will not be tolerated,” she said,while asking her party workers in Uttar Pradesh,particularly the youth,to go to the grassroots and ensure money from all central schemes were reaching the people. “We have made these schemes. But workers here should see to it that each and every scheme is being implemented,” she said.

Sonia’s defiant stance comes when the Opposition has stalled Parliament for the tenth working day in a row over its demand for a joint parliamentary probe into the 2G scam.

Claiming that Uttar Pradesh was suffering from basic problems in sectors like power,water,roads,employment and law and order,Gandhi said despite the unbiased attitude of the Centre towards all the states,the people of UP were facing such problems.

“The Centre understands its responsibilities and is always there for the common man. UP has been sanctioned Rs 12,000 crores under central schemes for the welfare of people in an unbiased manner,” she said,rubbishing Chief Minister Mayawati’s allegation that the Centre was biased towards non-Congress states.

She pointed out that the UPA has launched schemes and enacted laws for development and welfare of common man,and said these steps would bear fruit only if they were implemented in the right earnest.

In Delhi on Wednesday,the Congress chief had slammed the Opposition for targetting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,terming it as “shameful” and asserting that he was “100 per cent above board” in the 2G spectrum issue.

Coming out in defence of the Prime Minister,she reminded the BJP that it had to pay a price of trying to “destroy the image” of Singh during the last Lok Sabha elections and said the party should draw a “lesson” from that.

Hitting back at BJP for seeking to corner the government over the 2G spectrum scam,a combative Gandhi had attacked the Opposition party for retaining B S Yeddyurappa as Karnataka chief minister and compared this decision with the UPA action in making A Raja,Natwar Singh,Shashi Tharoor and Ashok Chavan resign from their posts in the wake of corruption charges.

“It is shameful that a person of Prime Minister’s integrity should be targetted in this manner,” she had told reporters when asked to comment on the Opposition attack on Singh in the 2G spectrum allocation issue.

“Everyone knows the Prime Minister is 100 per cent above board. Everyone knows what kind of person,what kind of an individual he is,” she said.

Sending out a message to the BJP,Gandhi said it should learn the “lesson” of making it “point number one to destroy the image” of Singh in 2009.

“What was the result,they lost,” she said referring to the sustained attack of the BJP on Singh in the run-up to the last Lok Sabha elections in which the NDA lost. “That should be a lesson for the Opposition,” she had said.