Govt under attack for corruption, price rise

The government on Wednesday came under attack in the Lok Sabha with the Opposition blaming it for rising corruption, increasing inflation and deteriorating employment situation.

The government on Wednesday came under attack in the Lok Sabha with the Opposition blaming it for rising corruption, increasing inflation and deteriorating employment situation.

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Participating in the debate on the motion of thanks to the President for her address to Parliament, Sharad Yadav

(JD-U) said the cases of corruption had increased during UPA-II regime.

"Corruption is like opium addiction...It is not going away," he said, recalling the spurt in cases of corruption in the past few years.

The debate was marked by frequent interruptions by members of the ruling as well as opposition parties as they accused each other for rising cases of corruption and inaction to check the menace.

Referring to corruption in hosting the Commonwealth Games, Yadav said the government should accept the suggestion of sacked chairman of the CWG Organising Committee Suresh Kalmadi to set up a JPC to probe the scam.

As regards the 2G spectrum allocation scam, he said it was unfortunate that telecom minister Kapil Sibal was contradicting the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

"If Raja (A Raja, former telecom minister) has done no wrong, why he is being interrogated," Yadav questioned, adding "Sibal was treating the nation as his legal chamber."

Sibal had earlier described the findings of the CAG on 2G spectrum allocation as "utterly erroneous".

Yadav further said that money being allocated for the right to work scheme MGNREGA was going waste.

On price rise, Yadav regretted that essential food items like wheat, rice and pulses were not available in ration shops in several parts of the country.

As regards unemployment, he said, the way 5 lakh youths assembled at Bareilly for 72 ITBP posts, it shows the state of employment in the country.

Congress member Jadgambika Pal, however, recalled the achievements of the government and said policies of UPA-II were aimed at benefiting common man.

"The Centre was able to preserve employment in the country at a time when people were losing jobs in different parts of the world on account of global financial crisis", he said.

He said opposition's insistence on JPC on 2G scam had cost the House 23 sittings in the winter session of Parliament and nation Rs 172 crore.

Referring to the issue of corruption, he said, while the Congress removed Maharashtra chief minister in the aftermath of the Adarsh Housing Society scam, the NDA did not do any such thing in Karnataka, despite adverse reports against the CM.