Corruption issue rankles Cong, AICC resolution guarded on it

Under attack over the issue of corruption, Congress today asserted that it would work tirelessly to remove this "scourge" but advocated caution saying that disagreement on merits and "honest mistake" should not be confused with it.

The party also expressed its dismay over rejection of some of the government's decisions by courts and constitutional authorities saying they have caused damage to the economy. The resolution was, however, silent on what those decisions were.

The UPA government had faced flak from the judiciary on 2G and coal block allocations issues along with some of its other controversial decisions earlier.

"Congress is deeply aware that the scourge if corruption affects the life of every Indian, and the poor carry its greatest burden.

"The Congress believes this is unacceptable and has been tirelessly working on an agenda of governance to address this," the party said in the resolution.

Claiming that the Congress-led UPA government struck the defining blow on corruption by enacting the Right to Information Act in 2005, the party also noted "however, in our pursuit to root out corruption, we have to be careful so as not to confuse disagreement on merits or even an honest mistake with corruption.

"Not everything that we find wrong is necessarily corruption."

The resolution noted that several decisions of the courts and constitutional authorities rejecting some administrative and executive decisions taken with good intentions have caused considerable damage to our economy.

"We are laying down a solid base of legislation to root out corruption and making the corrupt accountable, but equally we have to be vigilant that natural justice is not given a go-bye or honest public servants hounded or forced into self-conscious paralysis," the resolution said.