The BJP on Tuesday questioned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for defending “tainted” Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) P.J. Thomas, so “aggressively”. The government, through an affidavit in the Supreme Court on Monday, had defended Mr Thomas calling him a person of impeccable integrity.
BJP chief spokesperson, Ravishankar Prasad said the Congress led UPA government is “unabashedly defending a tainted CVC” which has raised serious questions about Congress’ avowed stance to fight corruption.
“A curious situation has arisen that the government is unabashedly trying to defend a tainted CVC and is unleashing an aggressive attack on the CAG (Comptroller-and-Auditor-General). In the process, credibility of both these institutions is getting damaged,” Mr Prasad said. The BJP leader said the government does not do its “homework properly”, referring to an office memorandum of the department of personnel and training regarding promotion of government servants against whom disciplinary or court proceedings were pending.
“If there were restrictions in case of simple officials, the same provisions should be applicable in the case of CVC also,” Mr Prasad said. He said Mr Thomas was an accused in the Kerala palmolein import case.
Mr Prasad said the Prime Minister should tell that if due diligence is to be followed even in small appointments, why this was not the case in the appointment of the CVC who acts as a watchdog against corruption.
Referring to Leader of Opposition, Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj’s objections to Mr Thomas’s appointment, he said Prime Minister should explain his “compulsion in defending a tainted CVC.”