No one guilty of corruption will be spared: PM (Second Lead)

NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday said his government was conducting a “thorough probe” into the Commonwealth Games (CWG) organisation and 2G spectrum allocation scandals and stressed that no person found guilty would be spared.

“These inquiries will be pursued vigorously. And it is my promise that no guilty person will be spared, whether he is a political leader or a government official, whichever party he may belong to and howsoever powerful he may be,” Manmohan Singh said at the Congress plenary session here.

“We are conducting a thorough probe into all aspects of the organisation of the Commonwealth Games and the 2G spectrum allocation. These inquiries will be pursued vigorously.”

He acknowledged that the plenary “is taking place when various charges are being levelled our party and our government.”

“Our objectives and principles are being suspected. Our record is being questioned for partisan political ends. It is being alleged that we are not sufficiently sensitive to the issue of corruption,” he admitted.

The prime minister said his government had always strived to eradicate corruption.

“Whether at the centre or in states, we have asked our ministers and chief ministers to step down merely on the basis of the suspicion because we practise and believe in principled politics.”

Taking a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he said: “Our approach to corruption is clearly reflected in our actions, whether in centre or in states, we have asked our ministers and chief ministers to step down merely on the basis of suspicion, because we practice and believe in principled politics.”

“We are not like some opposition parties who insist on retaining their tainted chief ministers despite scandal after scandal,” Singh said, referring to allegations of corruption against Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa.

“If you come across corrupt practices, you must make your best effort to prevent and expose them,” he told the gathering of Congress delegates.

The prime minister also referred to Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s five-point agenda against corruption she outlined in her speech Sunday.

“I wish to assure Sonia-ji that our government will pay careful attention to the five-point agenda which she has placed before…We have always strived to eradicate corruption, and the country can be rest assured we will continue to do so in future,” Manmohan Singh said.

The opposition has been trying to corner the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government on corruption charges and had paralysed the functioning of the parliament’s winter session, demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the 2G spectrum allocation scandal.