Advani tells Cong to take action on its leaders

KOTTARAKKARA: BJP leader L K Advani’s rally against corruption, Jan Chetna Yatra was accorded a rousing reception at Kottarakkara on Saturday. Addressing hundreds of BJP activists, who arrived from various parts of the district at the Government Higher Secondary School Ground here, Advani said that the Congress, which has shown great enthusiasm in punishing the tainted leaders from its allies, was showing reluctance in initiating action on corruption charges against its leaders. “The leaders of allies were made scapegoats for the deeds which they(Congress) too are responsible for.” BJP is not justifying the leaders of allies who are facing investigations on graft charges, but demanding the Congress to take responsibility for their role in these scams, he said.  Reiterating his demand for a white paper on the Rs 25-lakh crore black money stashed away in foreign banks, Advani alleged that the UPA Government failed in taking advantage of the Act passed by Switzerland Government, Restitution of Illegal Assets Act, which would help other nations in bringing back the black money stashed away in Swiss banks.  “Bring back the money and invest them for the development of around six lakh villages across the country. The amount will be more than enough to provide electricity, drinking water, schools and better health facilities to all the villages in rural India,” he said. Stressing the need to establish ‘good governance,’ he said that the governance system in the country needs a revamp in the wake of the country staying underdeveloped even after 60 years of Independence. Advani said that the arrest of two of his party colleagues, who were instrumental in exposing the cash-for-vote scam, prompted him to undertake the yatra. “At a time when governments around the world enact a piece of legislation to protect those who expose corruption, the two leaders who should have been hailed as whistle-blowers were jailed in our country,” he said. Earlier, Advani began his address by expressing his delight in being at the birth place of world-renowned art form, Kathakali. Advani was accompanied by BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad, party’s national general secretary Ananth Kumar and national secretary P Muralidhar Rao, former union Minister O Rajagopal and other national and state leaders of BJP. BJP state president V Muralidharan translated the address and district president Vayakkal Madhu presided over.