Congress anti-graft plan comes unstuck
New Delhi: A belated bid by the Congress-led
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to try and blunt the political damage a
series of corruption scandals have caused it ended prematurely on
Monday after the head of the Lokpal Committee Search Panel, former
Supreme Court judge K.T. Thomas, opted out.
Thomas’s exit came a day after the government had to abandon its
plans to promulgate some anti-corruption ordinances after President Pranab Mukherjee signalled his unwillingness to go along with the move to bypass the legitimate way to pass these laws—through Parliament.
With the 16th general election likely to be announced
later this week, this is effectively the end of the strategy
orchestrated by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to help the party establish its commitment to fighting corruption.
India recently approved a law to create the Lokpal, an
anti-corruption watchdog, after six decades of trying, and the Congress
wanted to take political credit for doing so, especially as it could be
used to blunt the growing criticism of the UPA, which has been besieged
by corruption scandals related to the organization of the 2010
Commonwealth Games, the allotment of spectrum to telcos, and the
allocation of coal mines.
India recently approved a law to create the Lokpal, an
anti-corruption watchdog, after six decades of trying, and the Congress
wanted to take political credit for doing so, especially as it could be
used to blunt the growing criticism of the UPA, which has been besieged
by corruption scandals related to the organization of the 2010
Commonwealth Games, the allotment of spectrum to telcos, and the
allocation of coal mines.
The rebuff by Thomas will also rankle because the former
judge pointed out that the entire process of selecting the ombudsman was
flawed. In a letter addressed to V. Narayanasamy,
minister of state in the Prime Minister’s office, he pointed out that
instead of searching for the best candidate, the committee was to pick
the members from a panel of names handed over by the government
pratima kumari
pgdm 2nd sem
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