Rahul Gandhi today accused the Opposition of "deceit" and "looking the other way" in fighting corruption and he kept open the Ordinance route to push through measures to create a framework to fight graft.
As Parliament session came to an end and five of the six anti-graft measures being spearheaded by Gandhi failed to see the light of the day, the Congress Vice President launched a blistering attack on the Opposition.
"Those in the opposition have said that they are against corruption and want to fight it. But when the time came to pass the Bills against corruption, they did not support," he said.
Gandhi said he had expected that on these matters, the government would get support from the Opposition.
"Frankly I believed that. I thought that they will do that. Unfortunately on the matter of corruption, which is the central issue in the country, the Opposition looked the other way."
Gandhi spoke to media as he met with a group of protesters, who sought Ordinances on Grievance Redress Bill, Disability Bill and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill.
A press release issued by the Lok Sansad, which spearheaded the agitation, said that Gandhi assured them full support for bringing Ordinances on these three bills.
Addressing the protesters, Gandhi also said, "I have heard what you are saying about the Ordinance. I have already had discussions with the leaders in my party and we are going to try and see that we can manage that."
Noting that there was a talk about the possibility of taking the Ordinance route to bring in these anti-graft measures, Gandhi said he had talked to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi in this regard.
"Let us see if the Ordinance can be brought or not. But in a way, the Opposition deceived. Opposition ka dhokha hai," Gandhi said.
The Congress Vice President said he had said several times that action is more important than words and the reality was that the opposition did not extend support when it was time to act to bring anti-corruption measures.
