Odishatv Bureau
New Delhi: Taking a pot-shot at L K Advani`s `rath yatra`, CPI(M) today said if the BJP was sincere about fighting corruption, it should ensure firm action against the corrupt in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh where it rules. "The BJP, if it has any sincerity about fighting corruption, should ensure that firm action is taken on the Lokayukta findings," senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said.

The BJP should ensure that Karnataka government "takes all necessary steps to prosecute (former Chief Minister B S) Yeddyurappa and all those named in the Lokayukta report".It should also take action against those "involved in corruption in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat where it runs state governments. Unless it does so, the Advani show will remain a political melodrama," Yechury said in an editorial in the forthcoming issue of party organ `People`s Democracy`.

He also criticised Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for having done "a great disservice to the secular values that he professes by providing legitimacy to the BJP-RSS campaign". "Kumar is being disingenuous to ask why the anti- corruption yatra is being mixed up with communalism. Advani`s yatra will traverse areas which are experiencing communal violence," the CPI(M) leader said.

Maintaining that the motive of the yatra did not seem to be only anti-corruption, he said, "that the 84-year old leader (Advani) is still driven by the ambition to become Prime Minister seems to be the main factor." Referring to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi`s fast for communal harmony, Yechury said it was like "the devil quoting scriptures after having presided over the worst communal pogrom in independent India."

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