The Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill was passed by a voice vote in Lok Sabha (Express Photo/Tashi Tobgyal) The Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill was passed by a voice vote in Lok Sabha (Express Photo/Tashi Tobgyal)

The Shiv Sena, an ally of the ruling BJP at both the Centre and Maharashtra, on Tuesday took the attack directly to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of corruption and asked the government to reveal how his election rallies are being funded. It also asked whether the ruling party is winning elections on money power.

Speaking during a debate on the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant said that during elections the PM should resign and campaign like an MP to know what it takes to win polls.

Sawant also slammed the BJP for admitting tainted people from other parties and took potshots at the government over Reliance Jio using Modi’s photograph for advertisement, and the proposed Jio Institute being awarded the Institute of Eminence status.

The Bill was finally passed by a voice vote in Lok Sabha.

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During the discussion, Sawant said, “If they are serious about fighting corruption, the ruling party must speak from the heart and say how they are fighting elections…. The PM does not belong to a party but to the whole country…when the PM goes for an election rally, who pays for it? Is it from the party or from government coffers?”

Tearing into the government over demonetisation, Sawant said, “It was believed it (demonetisation) would reduce black money, corruption and terrorism. Were any of these goals achieved? Did terrorism decrease? If it did, how did 600 people, our soldiers die? We have failed. I don’t want to go into jumlas (rhetoric), but the PM must fight an election after resigning from his post. Then he would know where the money comes from.”

Alleging that the government is not able to walk the talk on corruption, Sawant said, “You are calling all corrupt people to join you, and after joining you, they become Valmiki…. You threaten them with jail sentence, but when they come to you they become pure…”

Earlier, moving the Bill for passage in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh said the proposed law is meant to enhance transparency and accountability of the government, and also to make the provisions under the law stringent. The measure reflects the government’s zero tolerance to corruption, he said.

The Bill, which got the Rajya Sabha’s nod last week with 43 amendments, seeks to set a time-frame within which a court would decide on corruption issues, and verdicts in such cases has to be given “ordinarily” in two years, Singh said.

During the debate, K H Muniyappa of the Congress said that electoral reforms are required to check corruption in the system. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the Opposition will support the government if it fought corruption in reality rather than making claims. “Under your rule, India, which was known as land of saints, has turned into land of scamsters…. Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and many others fled the country after defaulting on banks’ money,” Chowdhury said.

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