New Delhi:
As the last session of Parliament before general elections came to an end today, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi made a sharp attack on opposition parties alleging their "deceit" had ensured that key anti-corruption bills could not be passed.
"Those in the opposition have said that they are against corruption and want to fight it. But when the time came to pass the Bills against corruption, they did not support," Mr Gandhi said.
The Congress Vice President said people were now saying the ordinance route should be taken to bring in these anti-graft measures and that he had spoken to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi in this regard.
"Let us see if the ordinance can be brought or not. But in a way, the opposition deceived. Opposition ka dhokha hai," he said.
Mr Gandhi said that he had several times in the past said that action is more important than words and the reality was that the opposition did not extend support when it was time to act to bring anti-corruption measures.
"I thought the people in the opposition will support these bills and India will get a strong anti-graft mechanism. But they didn't do so," Gandhi Mr said.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Ajay Maken also attacked the BJP by accusing it of blocking five out of six anti-corruption legislations in the just-concluded parliament session.
In a statement, he said he wondered whether the BJP has scuttled the five bills under instructions from its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi who was "scared" that once these bills got passed and create an institutional framework, all his and the BJP's "deeds of commission and deliberate omissions" will be exposed.
Accusing Mr Modi of having a record of consistently stalling creation of Lokayukta in Gujarat, he alleged the Gujarat Chief Minister was giving "undue advantages" to select corporate houses.
"It is hardly surprising that Modi made BJP go back on its earlier stand just to stall this game-changing initiative which Rahul Gandhi has been championing", he added.