Displaying his commitment to fight corruption, Rahul Gandhi today publicly disapproved of the decision of Maharashtra's Congress government to reject a judicial commission's report which had indicted some of his party leaders and said it should be reconsidered.
A visibly angry Congress Vice President, who has lately been focussing ways to defeat graft, made his disapproval known in front of Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan who immediately promised to look into the matter afresh.
Gandhi announced that the Congress-ruled states would enact Lokayukta legislations by February 28 even as he attacked BJP for blocking UPA efforts to put in place a proper framework to defeat corruption.
Fielding questions at a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, he asserted that nobody would be protected in the Adarsh Housing scam in which three former Chief Ministers of Congress are facing charges of irregularities.
"Personally, I don't agree with that decision. They (Maharashtra) should reconsider that," he said, sending out a clear message to Chavan who was also seated on the dais.
"There is no question of protecting anybody...They should reconsider," Gandhi underlined.
He was responding to a question on rejection last week by the Maharashtra government of the judicial commission's report on Adarsh scam which was tabled in the Legislative Assembly.
Soon after the press conference, Chavan was pressed by reporters for his reaction. He replied, "I will consult my colleagues. I will decide my next course of action".
The report of the two-member commission headed by retired High Court judge J A Patil indicted several politicians including three former Chief Ministers for "blatant violations" of statutory provisions.
Gandhi's assertion came while he was talking about the Congress' determination to fight corruption after he chaired a meeting of Congress Chief Ministers.
Earlier, he had trashed an Ordinance cleared by the Union Cabinet to negate a Supreme Court judgement which provided for immediate disqualification of MPs and MLAs after conviction. The Government had then withdrawn the Ordinance.
Apparently attacking BJP and Narendra Modi, Gandhi said the opposition was blocking the passage of a number of bills needed as part of a framework to fight corruption.
"These days, we hear big talk about fighting corruption... We hear again and again and again and again about corruption. But there is no action... Talks have become a fashion..," he said.
"Let's have a session of Parliament and create a framework. Whenever we talk about creating a framework, there is complete silence on the other (opposition) side. I don't hear 'let's pass these bills'.
