Naidu to PM: Enact law to root out corruption

Hyderabad, Jan 24 (PTI) Telugu Desam Party (TDP)President N Chandrababu Naidu has demanded that the Centreimmediately enact a comprehensive legislation to root outcorruption in the country.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, hesuggested seven measures to curb corruption and black money"to protect and liberate the four pillars of democracy and thesociety from the shackles of money power".

Releasing the letter to the media here this evening,Naidu wanted the Union Government to first prepare a draftlegislation and put it for a wider public debate involving allpolitical parties, intellectuals and also the general public.

"Corruption is the root cause for all the miseriesfaced by the nation and the people. The country''s image hasbeen badly tarnished in the world because of unbridledcorruption. The corrupt people should be taught a lesson."

The former Chief Minister said corruption came to begauged by two yardsticks: pre-1991 and post-1991.

"Pre-1991, the scale of corruption was less. Post-1991, thanks to economic liberalisation, the scale ofcorruption became enormous," he maintained and stated that theBofors scandal remained "the typical and classical example" ofcorruption as it was being talked about even after 20 years.

"At a time when we should be ensuring that the fruitsof development reach the poor, the country has been caught ina vortex of corruption, misuse of power, lack of transparency,tax evasion and serious frauds," he lamented.

"The damage to the democratic structure is enormous,particularly in view of the fact that these scandals have beenallowed to continue unchecked and the culprits go unpunished."(MORE) PTI DBV RSY ETB

Noting that many of the laws and rules intended for healthy functioning of the democracy were often twisted to aidand abet undesirable elements, Naidu said it was necessary torebuild the entire structure, revise laws and strengthen theirenforcement so as not to give any room for delay or misuse.

The former CM criticised the Prime Minister forstating that details of black money stashed in foreigncountries could not be revealed. "It is a sad picture that thePrime Minister is being so helpless. He only wanted to protectsome people (by not disclosing details)."

Slamming Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee forsuggesting that political parties join the outlawed Maoists ifthey did not have faith in democracy, the TDP chief said theveteran Congress politician should be "ashamed" for havingmade such remarks.

He also lambasted Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibalover his arguments on the 2G spectrum scandal. "What''shappening in the Government of India?" Naidu wondered.

The TDP leader said Singh should demonstrate the willto tackle corruption. "If the Prime Minister is weak, peoplewill take things for granted."

The Leader of Opposition in AP Assembly said the TDPwould appeal to all like-minded parties in the country towrite to the Prime Minister on corruption and raise anation-wide debate on the issue.