NEW DELHI: Law minister
Kapil Sibal on Wednesday slammed both
BJP and AAP for making corruption an issue when people in their own parties were of suspect credentials.
Targetting BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Aam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal, Sibal said one was a "salesman" par excellence while the other was the quintessential "showman".
"The salesman has outsourced his own packaging, the showman packages himself outdoors. Both cry themselves hoarse about corruption. The salesman targets the
Congressparty undaunted by the BJP's history of corruption. The showman projects himself as the epitome of virtue and brushes all other political parties as corrupt," the minister said. "It is sad that the politics of today throws up people whose credentials are suspect," he added.
Sibal said Modi never felt any pangs of conscience when B S Yeddyurappa was taken back in the BJP. He said Justice Santosh Hegde as Lokayukta had sought Yeddyurappa's prosecution apart from severely indicting him. "The BJP government's tenure in Karnataka was rampant with incidents of corruption. It involved the then chief minister Yeddyurappa and several other ministers," he said.
Giving examples of the Reddy brothers and the iron ore scam, Sibal said the "saga of corruption is endless and yet Modi has the temerity to accuse the Congress of being corrupt".
He said the Congress never behaved in this blatant fashion in its history. Contemporary events showed that it was the BJP, which always and blatantly sought to protect the corrupt, he said.
Referring to Kejriwal, Sibal said the showman believed that other than him, everybody else was corrupt. "When it comes to his law minister Somnath Bharti, despite the court's indictment of criminal wrongdoing, he dismisses the verdict upheld right up to the Supreme Court."
Sibal said the country was caught between two alternatives provided by the opposition. "The people will see through both and root for those who have always believed in introspection, taking corrective measures and doing what they can for the people and for the future of India," he said.