Sushma Swaraj lambasts UPA

The SC had asked CBI to give its report on the scam only to it and not to the govt

Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj lambasted the UPA government, accusing it of arm twisting the CBI and trying to protect Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the coal scam.

Addressing a gathering of about 15,000 in Dharwad at the weekend, as part of BJP's campaign for assembly elections, Sushma said the CBI director had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court admitting that the Union Law Minister Aswhin Kumar had forced the CBI to change the content of its report to the Supreme Court. The SC had asked CBI to give its report on the scam only to it and not to the government.

She alleged that the UPA's scams that rocked the parliament sessions were not unearthed by BJP or any other party but by constitutional agencies like CAG. UPA is engaged in looting the resources of the nation through one or the other scam and then intimidates the probing agencies in a bid to protect those guilty. The burden of compensating the loss falls on 'aam admi' who has to pay more for essential commodities due to price rise, Sushma alleged.

Sushma who began her speech in Kannada and then spoke in Hindi for 30 minutes devoted her time to attack the Congress-led UPA and focused on price rise and how the UPA tried to slow down/stop the projects launched by Vajapayee-led NDA government. She said, the BJP government in Karnataka had taken up welfare programmes and development works despite dissidence and fighting within the party.

Taking on AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi for terming the BJP government in Karnataka as the most corrupt, Sushma ridiculed Rahul by saying the devil was quoting the scriptures. Congress is neck-deep in corruption and Rahul, who is sitting in a glass house, should not throw stones at others, she said.

She said, the BJP had been cleansed in Karnataka now and deserved another term with a majority to take the development projects to their logical end. She was all praise for BJP state president and MP Prahlad Joshi and CM Shettar, and appealed to the voters to strengthen their hands by getting the BJP elected to power.