BHUBANESWAR: The Nehru- Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi continues to bewilder the State Congress with his confusing signals. On Thursday, he left the local party leaders in a shock when he said the problem with the Naveen Patnaik government in Orissa is lack of implementation of schemes, not corruption.“Here the problem is in the implementation. In Orissa there is corruption but not like in Uttar Pradesh which has specialised in it,” Rahul told mediapersons here.Coming down heavily on the Mayawati Government in Uttar Pradesh, Rahul said corruption there has become a way of government which he is fighting.The problem in Orissa is more with implementation of schemes, Rahul said and pointed out that women are not aware of the MGNREGS in tribal areas of the State.Rahul, however, tried to make it up at a public meeting he addressed later in the day here, by describing the Naveen Government corrupt.Even as the CBI is probing irregularities in the implementation of MGNREGS in six districts of the State, the AICC general secretary said, there were irregularities in supply of dal for the mid-day meal scheme and the government is mired in multi-crore mining and coal scams.Stating that the Naveen government is for the rich, Rahul asked the Youth Congress and NSUI activists to go to the villages and fight for people’s issues to unseat the government.To a question at the media conference, the Congress leader said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had acted very decisively against corruption.Several chief ministers have been dismissed and many leaders are in jail on corruption charges, he said.In Orissa also many leaders have been removed from their posts on corruption charges but there is no follow- up inquiry here, he said adding the Karnataka Government is one of the most corrupt in the country.Rahul, however, expressed reservation over bringing the Prime Minister under the purview of the Lokpal. “I think after he quits office, the Prime Minister should come under the purview of the Lokpal,” he said.Since the Prime Minister is to lead the nation and run the government, he should be out of Lokpal purview while in office, he said. While describing the Lokpal Bill and discussions on it as a good development, Rahul said the proposed measure was fundamental, but prevention is better than cure.Stating that corruption has become a menace as political parties are not statefunded, he said it is necessary to rope in the poor and the youths to politics.
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