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George Iype in Bangalore
Congress party president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday called for the resignation of the Vajpayee government on moral grounds in the wake of the defence scandal brought out by tehelka.com.
Inaugurating the 81st All India Congress Committee plenary session in Bangalore on Saturday, Sonia Gandhi accused the Vajpayee government of "making commerce out of national security".
"The Congress party knew that the Vajpayee government's members and the Bharatiya Janata Party have been indulging in corrupt practices. Now the nation is shocked to see how deep the cancer of corruption runs in the Vajpayee government," she said.
"Last night we saw the prime minister of India defending his government on television. Vajpayee himself has admitted that the canker of corruption is running in his government," the Congress president stated.
Pooh-poohing the BJP's demand for a debate on the defence scandal in Parliament, Gandhi said it was the same set of people who had been accusing the Congress of corrupt practices all these years. "It is sad to see that the BJP and the prime minister are issuing certificates of integrity and honesty to his ministers and NDA parters," she said.
Stating that Vajpayee has "lost the moral credibility" to rule the nation, the Congress president said "the Prime Minister deserves no forgiveness". "What is happening is a sad, cruel state of affairs, especially in the defence ministry," she said.
Therefore, she said, the Congress "demands the departure of the Vajpayee government as early as possible."
With Sonia Gandhi setting the tone for the AICC plenary session with her demand for Vajpayee's ouster, many believe the Congress will attempt to chalk out the Opposition's future strategy.
Sonia Gandhi reserved her comments as to what the Congress plans to do in the coming days, saying that she will spell out the details during the concluding AICC session on Sunday.
With the arms deals scandal coming at the appropriate time, the AICC changed its all important political resolution to harp on the issue.
"The Congress joins the people of India in demanding that the Vajpayee government whose greed and avarice have jeopardized our jawans and rendered us vulnerable to our enemies, must go," the resolution said.
Stating that the prime minister must up own up his and his government's moral responsibility which the BJP in opposition was so fond of trumpeting, the resolution said, "Without much ado, the prime minister should tender to the President the resignation of his government," the resolution said.
The political resolution termed Vajpayee's decision to order a judicial inquiry into the defence scandal as "a token gesture that does not address the heart of the crisis of corruption with which the nation is confronting".
It said what has been unveiled displays the pattern of corruption in governance which has characterised the last three years of BJP-led government at the Centre.
"Rampant venality and corruption have penetrated the highest echelons of the Prime Minister's Office and the ministry of defence, worming their way into the office of the president of the BJP. The people feel betrayed. Therefore, the BJP-led government should go immediately," the resolution added.
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