Thaindian News

Madurai (Tamil Nadu), Oct 28 (IANS) Accusing the central government of selectively targeting people involved in scams, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani Friday said here that his party was not soft on corruption.

Advani, who arrived here, around 450 km from Chennai, Thursday, spoke to reporters prior to commencing the second leg of his anti-corruption yatra Friday morning.

Refusing to comment on the links between BJP and Team Anna, Advani said while ministers of allies were being probed for scams, the ruling Congress has protected its own members and has rejected any probe demands against its own ministers.

Earlier, a tense situation prevailed with the detection of a pipe bomb under a small bridge in Alampatti near here which Advani’s yatra was scheduled to pass Friday morning.

Based on information given by locals, the police cordoned off the area and seized the bomb that had a 25 metre wire connected to it.

Senior police officials rushed to the spot to carry out investigations. According to BJP, the yatra was proceeding as planned.

Advani’s Jan Chetna Yatra, aimed at fighting black money and corruption, started Oct 11 and will end Nov 20.

He said the aim of his yatra was only to demand bringing back of monies stashed away in foreign countries and not to promote himself or his party with an eye on the elections.

He said the government was punishing those who brought out the cash-for-vote scam instead of the perpetrators.

Queried about the possibility of an electoral tie-up with the AIADMK for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, he said this will be decided only at election time.

Declaring that the party will not support politically motivated clemency demands for convicts on death row, the former prime minister said the party will go by what the court orders.

Commenting about nuclear power plants in the wake of protests at Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district, Advani said the country needed to review its atomic power installations and safety of the people should be the priority.