NEW DELHI: India's ruling Congress party vowed Sunday to fight corruption by fast-tracking court cases, as the government tried to overcome stinging criticism after a string of financial scandals. Party president Sonia Gandhi, the key powerbroker of Indian politics, told the annual Congress leadership conference in New Delhi that the 125-year-old party must show zero tolerance of corruption to survive. The pledge followed a telecom scandal that deadlocked an entire session of parliament, and the arrests of some organisers of the Delhi Commonwealth Games on charges of swindling millions of dollars before the October event. “There should be no tolerance for corruption and we have demonstrated this through our actions and even when no charges have been made, we have asked our ministers and chief minister to step down pending enquiry,” Gandhi said. She said that corruption trials “drag on indefinitely and undermine public confidence” so she backed “a new system of fast-tracking all cases that concern corruption by public servants including politicians, including all of us.” Congress, in alliance with other smaller parties, retained power in 2009 elections but is widely seen as struggling to push through its reform agenda despite India's healthy economic growth. Telecoms Minister A. Raja, who belongs to a regional party in the Congress alliance, was forced to quit last month after the national auditor said he sold second-generation (2G) mobile phone licences for a fraction of their value in 2008. It estimated a revenue loss of up to 40 billion dollars. The Congress chief minister of Maharashtra state also resigned last month over a property scandal in Mumbai, and executives from leading state banks have been arrested in a suspected bribes-for-loans racket. Gandhi defended Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has maintained an image of honesty amid India's murky political world, against allegations he failed to act over the 2G scandal. “The party stands solidly behind him,” she said. “He is the embodiment of sobriety, dignity and integrity.” – Agence France
