Surat: A Prime Minister’s responsibility is not limited to his personal integrity but extends to uprooting corruption from the entire system, BJP president Amit Shah said today as he attacked former PM Manmohan Singh over a string of scams that took place under his watch.
“I firmly believe that a Prime Minister’s responsibility is not just limited to not indulging in corruption, but it is also his responsibility to stop others as well so as to uproot corruption from the entire system,” Shah told reporters here.
“Under Manmohan’s leadership scams worth Rs 12 lakh crore were committed. How can Congress shrug off its responsibility for this,” Shah said.
The BJP chief was responding to a scathing attack by Singh earlier in the day during which he said the Narendra Modi government was “harping” on corruption to divert people’s attention to non-issues and asserted that he never used public office to “enrich” himself, family or friends.
“There were those who used to give zero loss theory, like zero loss in spectrum allocation, zero loss in coal allocation.
“Today, under the BJP government, coal auction of 20 mines has generated Rs 2 lakh crore. This shows that heavy loss had taken place. And the loss was more than what was estimated by the CAG. One-third spectrum was auctioned by us from which we have earned Rs 1.09 lakh crore and deposited this money into the national coffer. This shows there was loss in 2G, too,” he said.
Demanding answers from the Congress, Shah alleged the UPA government “looted” national wealth.
“Congress should give answers, those who had floated zero loss theory need to be made answerable now. They should accept that there were scams and they looted nation’s wealth,” Shah said.
“It is not enough to just talk about eradicating corruption. There is an expectation from the PM that he will provide corruption-free rule,” Shah said.
PTI
