Stressing that the Manmohan Singh government had not "spared" any of those accused of corruption, he said there was no need for the party to be on the "defensive" and it should have rather "taken advantage" on the basis of the actions taken.
"We have failed to convince the people on the actions taken by the UPA government. That I agree," Chandy told PTI in an interview here.
The 70-year-old leader insisted that the "actions" by the UPA government against the corrupt were "very strong" and "not a single person was spared".
Chandy buttressed his argument by citing the actions against ministers and leaders who faced allegations in scams involving 2G spectrum allocation and Commonwealth Games.
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"The UPA government or Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or party leadership did not shield the corrupt persons. No one can point out.... If the government had shielded the culprit, you could blame us," the second time Chief Minister added.
"Actually, we should have taken advantage on the basis of actions taken by us on corruption. Congress should not have gone on the defensive on the issue. We should have gone on the offensive....We did everything (to punish the corrupt)....But on communicating this....There may have been weakness," Chandy said.