New Delhi: Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday landed in a controversy for her comments that a man had offered her money to get a ticket for assembly polls with BJP slamming her for not taking action against the person and terming the incident as reflection of "Congress culture".
"It is an open secret that tickets are sold in Congress party. But this is the first time that a Chief Minister has admitted it. The alleged offer of bribe to Dikshit for an assembly ticket exposed the Congress culture," senior BJP leader VK Malhotra said.
Accusing Dikshit of protecting the corrupt, Malhotra wondered why the Chief Minister did not reveal the name of the person or hand him over to police and said "suppressing a crime itself is a crime."
The Chief Minister reportedly said on Wednesday that a man had offered her money in a plastic bag which she mistook for a packet of sweets to procure a party nomination for the Assembly elections.
When asked to name the person, the Chief Minister refused to do so but said she was trying to highlight those who offer bribe as the focus is always on those who accept it. "The only message I wanted to give was that corruption is a two-sided thing. One side gives it. The other side takes it. We only concentrate on those who take it...I am not talking about political corruption. I am talking about all corruption," she told reporters. Dikshit said the reported incident had taken place two-and-half decades back.
"Protecting a criminal, that too by a Chief Minister, is totally unacceptable. Accepting bribe as well as offering bribe is crime. But suppressing such a crime is also a crime. Dikshit must explain why she had not handed over the person to the police. Even now one should find out whether the person who offered bribe ultimately got Congress ticket," Malhotra said.
Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel also came down hard on Dikshit, saying her revelation was an indication of the state of affairs in Congress. "One can imagine what members of such a party can do when they get elected to power.
"The CM's acceptance of culture of corruption explains how Congress has been able to produce unending series of scams be it 2G, Commonwealth games, Coalgate, Railgate etc," Goel said.
Alleging massive corruption in Delhi Government, Goel said Dikshit dispensation was indicted by the Shunglu Committee and CAG for CWG scams. "What happened to Lokayukta reports that strongly censured her? What happened to CAG's strong indictment of almost all departments for burning the pockets of public exchequer. She has no answer to these questions," Goel said.
Comments
0 comment