Scams tarnishing India's image abroad: Advani

Itanagar, Oct 20: Scams dogging the UPA government is tarnishing India's image abroad, but the ''indecisiveness'' of the ruling Congress party in taking steps against corruption has resulted in ''misrule and price rice'', senior BJP leader L K Advani said today (Oct 20).

"The CWG, 2G spectrum, Mumbai Adarsh Housing scam involving defence land are among eight major scams which have been tarnishing the hard-earned image of India globally," Advani, who was here as part of his 40-day Jana Chetna Yatra, said.

He alleged that the Congress on one pretext or other like coalition politics, failed to take steps to root out corruption which has resulted in misrule and price rise at the cost of the people.

He said after the economic meltdown, western countries like Germany, USA and France had pressurised Switzerland to disclose the identities of depositors through the UN Convention Against Corruption which led the Swiss government to open up in 2009.

"I was the first to write a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to avail the opportunity and also pressurise Switzerland to get back Rs 25 lakh crore stashed in banks there as assessed by party''s four-member task force, but the UPA government took no step," he said.

Once the black money was brought back to the country, 6000 villages many lacking basic necessities like water, electricity, roads and health facilities, would witness a sea-change and help in building a new Bharat," Advani said.

Later talking to reporters before leaving for Guwahati, he said, "If the BJP came to power in 2014, it will be easier to bring back black money as the Swiss Restitution Of Illicit Assets Act will facilitate our commitment in that direction."

PTI