Refer bill to panel again: BJP
The Lok Sabha on Tuesday witnessed a slugfest between the government and the opposition over the contentious Lokpal Bill, as the BJP not only branded the proposed legislation as “weak,” “ineffective” and “patently unconstitutional,” but also demanded that bill be resent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice.
The ruling Congress, in defence, accused the BJP of hatching a political conspiracy to block the Bill. Pointing to the loopholes of the government’s draft of the bill, Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj, accused the Centre of trying to impose a template for setting up Lokayuktas on the States.
Apart from describing the bill as an attack on the federal structure of the Constitution, Swaraj criticised the government for instituting a minority quota in the proposed Lokpal.
She also slammed the Bill for the Lokpal’s limited control over the Central Bureau of Investigation and the riders attached to the inclusion of the prime minister under the anti-graft ombudsman’s purview. “Either you accept all our amendments or send it to the standing committee again and bring it back before the House after two or three months,” said Swaraj.
Defending the Bill, Union Minister for HRD Kapil Sibal said the Centre can include provisions that lay a template for creation of Lokayuktas in the states. He accused the BJP of trying to gain political mileage by delaying the Bill’s passage.
