Corruption, law and order major election issues in MP: Moily

Bhopal, Nov 20 (UNI) All India Congress Committee (AICC) media cell chairman Veerappa Moily today said people had accepted that corruption and law and order are going to be major issues during the Madhya Pradesh assembly poll.

''Madhya Pradesh has turned into a 'critical' state during the five-year rule of the BJP with most ministers, including the Chief Minister, facing corruption charges. Corruption is the number one issue,'' Mr Moily told reporters here.

Mr Moily said the BJP government had 56 scams to its credit, while three ministers were forced to submit their resignation on corruption charges. Several corruption charges were pending with the Lokayukta.

About law and order situation, Mr Moily said 132 incidents of communal violence had taken place in the state, while the government had admitted that 58 such cases occurred.

He alleged that multiple agencies of the BJP Government were engaged in extortion and this government had topped in corruption.

Commenting upon the poll manifesto of the Congress for Madhya Pradesh polls, Mr Moily said the poll manifesto was prepared on the lines of Andhra Pradesh where fifty per cent of its promises were fulfilled.

He claimed that the poll manifesto, which was released yesterday by Union External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, was better than that prepared for Andhra Pradesh. ''This manifesto will fulfil the aspiration of the people of Mahdhya Pradesh,'' he said.

The former Karnataka Chief Minister clamed that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre was 'scam-free' government, which had already fulfilled 95 per cent of its promises under the common minimum programme.

''In comparison, the previous National Democratic Alliance government was riddled with numerous scams such as UTI scam and the minister like Bangaru Laxman being caught by the camera accepting bribe,'' he said.

To a query, Mr Moily refused to accept that inflation and price hike were the main problem for the common people.

''We accept corruption is the root cause of problems.'' He also rejected Margaret Alva's allegation of selling tickets by the Congress during the Karnataka poll as false and motivated.

''Moreover, the case was raised after six-seven months. The party is like a mother and Ms Alva should have discussed it with the party before going to media,'' Mr Moily said.

Regarding Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur case, Mr Moily said evidence was coming out against her and the Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad was investigating in the right direction.

''We do not support terrorism or link it with religion but we are always opposed to fanatics of any religion,'' Mr Moily said.

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