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The Congress seems to be doing a purging exercise to clean up its sagging image ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections with the party paving the way for the arrest of disgraced Indian Olympic Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi and pressing corruption charges against DMK chief M Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi.

High-profile arrests in the last few months are a clear indication that the Congress has finally understood one thing: that the people are fed up with the rampant corruption and the party’s only chance of staying in the seat of power in Delhi is by placating the public on the corruption issue.

At one point of time, it seemed erstwhile telecom minister A Raja would evade an arrest. But now, the number of high-profile persons cooling their heels in Tihar Jail is rising by the day.

Among the high-profile people hauled up for corruption, Kalmadi will be probed for his alleged role in various irregularities in awarding Commonwealth Games or CWG contracts.

According to the Central Vigilance Commission or the CVC, there were serious deficiencies in five major projects undertaken by the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee.

In a report on irregularities in CWG projects, the CVC lashed out at Kalmadi, saying he had illegally tweaked eligibility criteria in tenders, allowing some private companies to make astronomical profits from projects worth over Rs 700 crore.

The projects included those on ticketing, accreditation cards, buying of fitness equipment along with overlays.

For instance, according to the CVC, an expenditure of over Rs 27 crore for creative designing work was highly inflated.

While Kalmadi is on his way to jail for the CWG irregularities, Kanimozhi has been charged for even a bigger scandal: the 2G telecom scam.

She has been charged with accepting bribes in the multi-crore telecom scam.

The chargesheet on Kanimozhi is likely to create quite a stir in Tamil Nadu, especially by DMK members, who will protest to put pressure on the Congress to do away with charges by the Central Bureau of Investigation or the CBI on her.

The arrest of A Raja did see some muted protests in Tamil Nadu but the fact that DMK chief’s daughter has been charged (and may lead to a possible arrest in a few days) could be a different ballgame altogether with rabble-rouser Kanimozhi now hogging the limelight.

The Congress could feel a tad uneasy with it having to give the CBI a go-ahead to punish the guilty, but with this, the party could win sympathy of the public, who may in turn believe that only the Congress could root out corruption from the country and vote the party back to power.

But if the Congress comes to power again, will the party maintain its momentum to root out corruption, or like our political class usually does, will the party again go slow on corruption and shatter every Indian’s dream of a corrupt-free India.

Even though Raja and Kalmadi and a litany of corporate honchos have been put to jail (and Kanimozhi charged in the 2G scam) there are still the “big fish” that are evading arrest.

For now, will the Congress show its sincerity to deal with corruption by arresting some of them so that the party can win trust of the people ahead of the 2014 elections?