PM tries hard to live down graft image

• Attends CPP meeting for first time in 10 years
• ‘We only continued with the system we inherited’
• Claims credit for Land Acquisition, RTI, Lokpal Bills

New Delhi: Battling against the perception of corruption of the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took the floor for the first time in the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) meeting on Wednesday to defend his record on the issue of corruption.

For the first time in 10 years, the Prime Minister spoke up in the CPP and that, too, to tell his partymen his version on the issue of corruption. Trying hard to defend his record on the 2G Spectrum scam and the coal scam, where he was himself under the scanner and the infamous land deals, the Prime Minister said public impression stems from the allocation of natural resources, such as spectrum, coal and land. “We only continued with the system we inherited,” he said, pointing to the Vajpayee Government policies on spectrum, coal and land allocation.

The Prime Minister sought to claim credit for initiating changes and ushering in new spectrum and coal allocation policies, besides bringing the new Land Acquisition Bill. This is besides the RTI and Lokpal Bills, which have already been passed and the Procurement Bill, which has been introduced. The Prime Minister underscored the need to explain all this to the people, in the backdrop of the perception of the corrupt record of the Congress. Even he went to the extent of blaming it on the CAG and CVC. The Prime Minister said, “We should frankly accept that there have been domestic problems also. Clearances have slowed down, which has affected large infrastructure projects. Part of the reason for the slowing down is that the bureaucracy is hesitant to take decisions because decisions have been questioned by the CAG and CVC in an environment where everything is politicized.” The Government, he said, was trying to overcome bottlenecks by deciding on delayed projects at the Cabinet-level. “In retrospect, we should have done this one year earlier but let us recognize that correction is now underway,” he told the partymen.

In a speech marked for its political insights, the Prime Minister said on the economic front, the party must project a vision of rapid economic transformation in a socially-inclusive manner and offer such a vision for the next 20 years. Along with the economic agenda, the party must project the social and political agenda based on the core values of the Congress. “It must also emphasise the importance of having a secular and tolerant outlook and of displacing superstition by a scientific temper,” he said, in a dig at BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

Giving out the salient features, he said agricultural growth registered 3.7 pc against 2.4 pc in the Tenth Plan period. Rural wages increased sixtimes faster that in 2004-05. Real per capita income in rural areas increased by four times faster than in earlier years, he said. States considered backward are growing at healthier rates. A major achievement of recent years is that almost all children are going to school. Health saw eradication of polio, AIDS incidence is low and falling, as is the rate of malaria and infant mortality rate. Infrastructure is seen expansion. Inflation and food prices remain the critical areas of concern, he said.

The Prime Minister said, “It is important to reflect on why we get less credit for our achievements than perhaps they deserve. The answer is that rapid growth, social change and political empowerment of the last decade has given rise to new aspirations, especially among the youth. The electronic media is quick to project visual evidence of progress in many parts of the country, especially in urban areas. The same media makes us more aware of the extent of deprivation, which still affects many families. Insecurity for women and corruption at different levels are other areas of focus.”