BJP asks government to introspect on its corrupt acts

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday accused the central government of failing on all counts and called on the latter to self-introspect on its various acts of corruption.

Addressing a news conference here, senior BJP leaders, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley dissected the second term of the UPA-II government in all sectors, and claimed that it had lost the trust of the people.

"Never has the country seen such an environment of gloom, pessimism, cynicism and negativism. All this is the result of this tenure of the government," said Jaitley, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

Swaraj said: "We are amazed as to why this government is celebrating. After four years, this government is celebrating, but what are they celebrating about? Is it for the plight they have caused the common man or, the failure to fulfil their promises made to the people or, for the gloomy mood of the country? What they should have actually done is brainstorm over the pricking issues after completing the four years and asked for forgiveness from the country."

Both leaders also quashed all rumours of divide between the BJP and their coalition partners in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

A key ally of the BJP, the Janata Dal-United has been objecting to the promotion and glorification of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, as he is accused of not doing enough to prevent the 2002 riots in the western state in which over 1000 Muslims were killed.

The government had tried to defuse a political crisis over the coal deals that has deepened a perception of dysfunction in the world's biggest democracy and derailed Prime Minister Singh's efforts to win back investors.

Singh had denied any wrongdoing and pointed out that it was his government that proposed competitive bidding.

Singh's government has struggled to defend itself against allegations that it awarded coalfields potentially worth billions of dollars to private and state power, cement and steel companies in a process that was corrupt at worst and lacked transparency or any element of competition at best.