NDA MPs will give declaration on black money: Advani

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani said on Sunday that opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) MPs will submit a declaration in parliament stating that they have no hidden foreign bank accounts.

The veteran leader also claimed BJP's hard work, in the fight against corruption, had resulted in the 'lifting of a fog'.

The blackmoney declaration, Advani said, would read like this: "I solemnly declare that I don't have directly or indirectly any bank account or asset illegally held outside India."

The announcement at the public rally to conclude Advani's nationwide journey comes in the wake of reports that three MPs figure in the list of 700 Indians who have allegedly stashed funds in Swiss bank accounts that brought the black money issue close to the Indian political system.

'BJP's hard work in lifting fog'

During Sunday's Ramlila speech, Advani added that the 'fog of corruption' needs to be banished.

"The fog hanging over politics due to corruption of government will not vanish automatically. It will go due to public awareness, pressure of people, and if not, then by change of regime and that situation has arisen. In a large measure, it has happened due to the government and in a large measure due to hard work done by BJP," Advani said.

He likened the fog he encountered in the morning while proceeding from Ghaziabad, where he addressed a rally on Saturday night, to the 'fog of corruption'.

He said there was thick fog when he began his journey from Ghaziabad, but the fog vanished as the day progressed 'but the fog of corruption will not go automatically'.

'Nothing but lip service'

The Congress has meanwhile slammed Advani's speech saying it was nothing more than 'lip service'.

"Merely taking out so-called anti-corruption yatra is nothing but lip service...this is nothing but grand preaching without a millimetre of practice," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said.

Singhvi said Advani cannot escape the 'inconvenient truth' that concrete anti-corruption measures have been taken not by the BJP but the Congress.

He cited dual tax avoidance agreement, RTI, bill on judicial accountability and the proposed public procurement policy as measures to tackle corruption. He described Advani's yatra as 'nothing but an attempt by him to stay afloat and remain relevant in his own party and keep dreaming of his personal agenda and ambitions'.