“People say he (Prime Minister Manmohan Singh) is personally honest.... It is a strange honesty that he leads the most corrupt government in India since 1947,” Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Mr. Jaitley said here.
Charging the Congress-led government with “perverting” all institutions, he said despite protests by BJP, P.J. Thomas, who is accused of corruption, was appointed as the Central Vigilance Commissioner.
“Now he hangs around the neck of the government as an albatross.... If he resigns then government will get some reprieve. But if he does not, then Prime Minister will be accused of encouraging corruption,” he said delivering a talk on issues like corruption in Bofors gun deal and 2G spectrum at the Delhi BJP headquarters.
Mr. Jaitley said the CBI could not get justice “for teenagers Ruchika and Aarushi as it was focusing all its energies in framing cases against political rivals of the ruling coalition“.
Referring to the alleged kickbacks in the Bofors gun deal, he said the recent Income Tax Appellate Tribunal order proved that the issue leads to the doorsteps of the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
“What is the reason that a 24-year-old contract (to buy Bofors howitzers for Army) continues to follow Congress leaders. The reason is very clear, that it is the only corruption case in the country which leads to the doorsteps of the Prime Minister,” he said.
The BJP leader later clarified that he was referring to the “then Prime Minister”.