JOIN USCongress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s anti-corruption agenda is likely to come to the fore in the final session of the current Lok Sabha beginning early February, as top Congress leaders decided to back him in an attempt to burnish the party’s battered reputation, months before the general elections.
It is learnt that Rahul, in a 30-minute meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday, talked of an anti-corruption framework in order to counter the anti-Congress sentiment evidenced during the recent elections in five states.
Minutes after Rahul’s meeting with the prime minister, the Congress core group led by president Sonia Gandhi discussed strategies for the upcoming session of Parliament.
Signalling that corruption will not be tolerated, Rahul had made a strong pitch to put in place an effective framework which involved enacting six laws, which were pending before Parliament. After its nearly comprehensive defeat in the year-end elections in four states, the Congress-led UPA government ensured the passage of the Lokpal Bill in Parliament in December.
Six anti-corruption and transparency-related legislations likely to be enacted during the upcoming session in Parliament, including the Public Procurement Bill, the Prevention of Corruption Act (Amendment) Bill, the Prevention of Bribery of Foreign Public Officials and Officials of Public International Organisations Bill, Electronic Delivery of Services Bill, The Right of Citizens for Time-bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill and the Whistleblowers Protection Bill.
In a rare press conference last week, the Prime Minister assured citizens that he would make “earnest efforts” to ensure the passage of the anti-graft legislations.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the Congress core group decided to make the anti-corruption bills a priority for the upcoming session of Parliament, when the vote on account is also expected to be passed.