LUCKNOW: The BJP on Friday called the UPA regime “the most corrupt government since independence” and accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of “maintaining a conspiracy of silence” on the numerous scams that have taken place under his watch.

The national executive also said the UPA government had lost all moral authority to rule. “It is evident that Manmohan Singh presides over the most corrupt government since independence. It lacks transparency, there is collusion at high level, no checks and balances and there is virtual collapse of system where scam after scam and scandal after scandal has become the order of the day,” the party said in a resolution.

The resolution, moved by general secretary Ananth Kumar, also indicted Congress chief Sonia Gandhi for not taking timely action. “The prime minister maintained a conspiracy of silence and is guilty of gross indifference when the nation’s wealth was being plundered… right under his nose by a massive abuse of system and yet Manmohan Singh looked the other way. The silence of all powerful Sonia Gandhi was too conspicuous,” BJP said.

Addressing the meet, BJP president Nitin Gadkari said, “The UPA leadership owes answers to the people as to how broad daylight robberies, whether in the 2G scam or in the Commonwealth Games preparations, were allowed to happen… Not even a child would believe that when A Raja and Suresh Kalmadi were indulging in corruption, the prime minister was simply unware of it.”

The BJP’s attack on the UPA comes at a time when Baba Ramdev has cornered the government with his threat of a hunger strike and former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran is battling charges of his family-owned Sun TV benefitting from pay-offs in 2G spectrum. The BJP also criticized the government for not involving political parties, especially those in Opposition, in formulating the Lokpal Bill, while it chose to consult civil society members.

Terming this process of formulating the draft bill as “constitutionally improper,” Gadkari, in a written reply to finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, refused to bail out the government by suggesting his party’s views on the bill, pointing out that the government decided to consult the political parties only when it was stuck in formulating a draft because of differences between the government and civil society members.

Gadkari’s reply dated June 2 was sent to Mukherjee in response to a letter the finance minister had written to all political parties and chief ministers on May 31, asking for their views on the six sticky issues that came up in the context of the Lokpal bill.

“At no stage has the government thought it necessary to consult either BJP or any other political party in regard to several issues involved in the context of setting up of an independent Lokpal. The questions on which you have sought our views indicate that these are issues on which there is divergence of opinion between the government ministers and civil society representatives,” Gadkari wrote back.