Uncertainty over Varun's plan to bring Jan Lokpal Bill in Parliament

Parliament sources said a private member's bill requires at least one month's prior notice before its introduction in the House.

They said while a notice has been given to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, it could have come up in this session only if it had been handed over before August 8.

If a such a bill is not taken up in the session for which the notice has been given, it does not lapse but requires a ballot process for being taken up in the next session. There is a long queue of private members' bills, they said.

The sources said a number of private member's bills were not taken up in the past during an entire Lok Sabha and those bills had lapsed and a repeat of the process was required in the new Lok Sabha.

The only time a private member's bill could be passed was in 1956. After Feroze Gandhi had made a powerful case, his bill enacting Parliamentary Proceedings (Protection of Publication) Act was adopted.

Varun Gandhi has said that he would move the bill next week.

On whether his party supported him on the issue, the BJP MP from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh said, "What is of more interest to me is whether the nation is benefiting."