New Delhi, April 29: The BJP has described the UPA Government as the “most corrupt in India’s history”. Reviving the issue of tainted ministers in the cabinet, Leader of Opposition and party’s PM candidate L K Advani on Tuesday questioned the “silence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi” on the T R Baalu affair, saying the government was showing “the same helplessness as it did in acting against crime-tainted ministers earlier”.

“Their silence shows how much the Congress and governments headed by it have departed from the standards of probity and accountability that prevailed in the early decades of Independence,” said Advani, addressing a Parliamentary Party meeting of his party.

While conceding that the PM’s personal integrity “was beyond doubt”, Advani charged that he was not able to enforce probity in his government. “The PM is duty-bound to make a statement in Parliament (on the Baalu affair) because he cannot shirk his responsibility over the misdeeds of a member of his cabinet, and he is answerable to the actions of the PMO. His silence and disrespect for Parliament are contributing to the devaluation of the office of PM,” charged the BJP leader.

Advani recalled the role of Feroze Gandhi “who lent the Gandhi name to the family” who, inspite of being a Congress MP, forced Nehru’s government to appoint Justice M C Chagla-headed commission of inquiry into the Mundra scandal. “Parliament should be taken into confidence at the earliest stage to avoid embarrassment from other sources of information,” Advani added, quoting the Chagla report.

The BJP leader also alleged that UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi had broken her silence on Nandigram “only after the Communist parties started protesting against the government's failure to contain price rise”.