Mumbai: Alleging that the UPA has survived on the strength of CBI`s lack of integrity, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley on Thursday said a parliamentary panel has made recommendations which will liberate CBI partly from the clutches of the government.
"The government at the Centre has survived on the strength of CBI`s lack of integrity," Jaitley said while delivering a lecture on `Challenges India needs to overcome` at the K C College here.
"Every time during the vote in Parliament, I find on the eve of the vote, the CBI altering its stand in affidavits and the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party changing their stand in Parliament," he said.
"The Parliamentary Select Committee has made a recommendation which will liberate CBI partly from the clutches of the government," the senior BJP leader said.
The key battle on Lokpal is how to liberate the CBI from the clutches of the government, he added.
On the recent India-Pakistan tension at the Line of Control (LoC) where two Indian soldiers were killed, he said, "Engagement per se will not solve the problem."
Calling Pakistan a "rogue" state, which is highly radicalised, Jaitley said it is represented by the Army, the ISI, the civilian government and the terrorists.
Touching upon the issue of Maoism, he said, "We need to seriously introspect how to deal with them (ultras)."
He said in order to develop the areas occupied by the Maoists, there should be a combination of developmental and police programme. "One without the other would be completely meaningless," he said.
Talking on the economic front, Jaitley stressed that the country needs to focus on achieving 9 per cent growth.
"India needs to look at achieving 9 per cent growth rate in next decade," he said while stressing on quality governance in the country.
PTI
