Manmohan Singh led 'most corrupt' govt in free India: Advani

Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Sunday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying as his decade-long tenure draws to a close, he would have presided over the "most corrupt" government in independent India.

"Dr Manmohan Singh began his tenure with a clean personal reputation. But as his decade-long tenure is coming to a close, he would leave behind him a record of having presided over the most corrupt government in independent India," he said in his latest blog.

Attacking the Congress-led UPA government, Advani alleged that it had driven Parliament to an "all-time low", recounting the February 13 mayhem in Lok Sabha which saw a Congress MP using pepper spray in the House and ministers joining anti-Telangana protests in the Well.

"Most members were shocked one day to see as many as half-a-dozen ministers...totally disregarding the presence of the PM and Soniaji in the House, rushing into the Well and joining the ugly ruckus... when amidst shouting of slogans for and against division of Andhra Pradesh, parliamentary papers were being torn and thrown all around," he said, blaming the UPA for coalition mismanagement.

He said, "The limits of unsavoury behaviour were crossed when... a Congress party MP pulled out a black pepper spray and started spraying it all around so that several MPs, including Sushma Swaraj, had tears in her eyes and many others were seen coughing in acute discomfort."

Terming the pepper spray incident as the "lowest point" of UPA-II, Advani drew a parallel with the cash-for-vote scam under UPA-I, saying whistleblowers, including three BJP MPs, were jailed instead of being rewarded for exposing it.

Advani said that "no less shameful" for the prestige and reputation of Parliament than the cash-for-episode scam that occurred under UPA-I was the ugly scenes witnessed under UPA-II and recalled that under NDA led by Atal Behari Vajpayee, three new states were created "without even a ripple of disturbance".

The BJP leader said, "With the present government, session after session has had to be adjourned due to chaos created over Telangana between the supporters and opponents of division."

Accusing the UPA government of being "most corrupt", he referred to the Commonwealth Games scandal in Delhi, followed by the 2G Spectrum scam, saying, "Most of the scams under the Congress governments were exposures made by CAG or the judiciary and related to bribes allegedly received by ministers/officials.

"But I hold that the most disgraceful scam during UPA-I was the cash-for-votes scam."