Congress resolves to fight terrorism, corruption

ABHIJIT ROY CHOUDHARY   
TIA

RAJIV NAGAR (NEW DELHI): The  All India Congress Committee (AIICC) President  Sonia Gandhi on Sunday said that her party would show no leniency towards terrorism and corruption.

“Terrorism by either majority or minority groups is dangerous” Congress chief said while  addressing the 83rd Plenary session of  the party here on Sunday.

Referring to terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, Naxal problems in many states and the on going violence by many groups in North Eastern states, she said that talks is the only way forward along with development.

She said that country was confronted with terrorist groups in Jammu and Kashmir, Naxalites were using violent methods to undermine the basis of the democratic system and in northeast, militant groups disturb peace. “While these elements have to be combated with all the means at our command, the door of dialogue has to be kept open and the prospect of political accommodation kept alive in the troubled spots," she said.

Sonia Gandhi also said that both party and government would not tolerate corruption. She said that the party has asked its leaders including Union ministers and Chief Ministers to resign pending inquiry and challenged the opposition parties to show similar courage.

Meanwhile, Congress has amended its constitution to extend its party president’s term to five years from the current three years. An amendment to this effect was passed at the plenary.

The resolution was moved by senior leader Oscar Fernandes and approved by other party leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A K Antony and party general secretary Rahul Gandhi, senior ministers and scores of party leaders.

The amendment comes at a time when Sonia Gandhi is serving as Congress president for the fourth straight term — the longest-serving chief of the 125-year-old party. The plenary also marks the completion of the 125 years of Congress, which is the oldest political party in the country.

The party also amended its constitution to allow holding organisational polls once every five years as against three years at present.

The 83rd Plenary session of the party began with the party chief Sonia Gandhi releasing the 5th edition of the Party’s history.

Meanwhile party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi said that severe punishment should be given to the corrupt people in the politics or society. "Whatever the Congress President has said on the issue, has given us inspiration to fight corruption. We require accountability…severe punishment should be given to the corrupt," he said while participating in the debate on the political resolution at Congress Plenary.

Without referring to the 2G spectrum allocation scam or the Commonwealth Games mess, he prefaced his remarks by noting that a number of issues relating to corruption have surfaced recently.

“Corruption snatches away the common man’s opportunity to progress” he underlined.

He asked ministers and chief ministers who were sitting here to give some time to the workers in the organisation. “Wherever I go, I get complaints. I know that running a Ministry takes a lot of time, but the workers should also get some time," Rahul said

He said that the people would connect with the party only when everybody gets equal opportunity in the organisation, Rahul defined the ‘aam aadmi’ as a person "who does not have a connection to the system".

"Whether he is poor or rich, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian, educated or uneducated, if he is not connected to the system, he is an aam aadmi," he said.