Rulers and 'Maharajas' should display greater probity: Jaitley

Hitting back at Amarinder Singh, BJP leader Arun Jaitley today used the Improvement Trust scam charge sheet against him and said rulers and 'Maharajas' should display greater probity and transparency in public life.
"Everyone in public life must be honest. Most certainly the rulers and Maharajas should display greater probity and transparency than lesser mortals," he said in an article.
Jaitley, who is pitted against the former Punjab Chief Minister in Amritsar, took potshots at Singh alleging that he "abused" his official position in order to shower benefits to a private party.
"Worst still, the charge sheet mentions that payments were made by the beneficiary to the Chief Minister and his family members and the money trail led them to a particular middleman with whom the monies were parked.

"The charge sheet does not make out a reading which may flatter anyone. The charge sheet states that the then CM kept the vigilance report in his custody without taking any action and did not hand over the original report to the authorities after demitting his office. So much for the Congress party's commitment to probity," Jaitley said.
The BJP leader who is back in the holy city for his campaign said he is faced with "arrogant" comments each day from his opponent and has thus started reading up on Singh's performance and achievements.

"I went through the details of a charge sheet filed by the Vigilance Bureau in relation to a 2005 project in the city of Ludhiana where all rules were flouted by the then government," he said.

Quoting the charge sheet, Jaitley said the Chief Minister had directed the removal of the Chairman of the Improvement Trust so that a more pliable gentleman could be appointed and the bidding documents prepared without necessary approvals.
"Work was undertaken flouting the rules. The bids were rigged in order to favour a particular bidder. Construction was allowed despite the authorities knowing that the agreement signed with the bidder was illegal and the construction was based on an unapproved design," he said.