Kharge writes to PM, to boycott Lokpal meet

Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge once again turned down an invitation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the Lok Pal selection committee meeting on Thursday.

In his letter to the prime minister, Kharge expressed his displeasure at being asked to attend the meeting as a “special invitee” and pointed out that he had stayed away from the previous meetings of the Committee for the same reason.

“It is very disappointing that my earlier letters not only went unacknowledged, but the serious concerns that were raised therein remained unaddressed,” Kharge, the Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, said.

Kharge made it clear to the prime minister that he will not attend the meetings of the Committee till such a time the leader of the single largest Opposition party was made a full-fledged member of the panel.

Kharge noted that the Select Committee has approved the amendment to the Lok Pal Act to include the leader of the single largest party in Opposition as a member of the Lok Pal Selection Committee.

“The fact that this amendment has never been brought before the house by the government clearly indicates that the government is keen to keep the Opposition out of the process of appointing the Lok Pal,” Kharge said.

The Lok Pal Selection Committee comprises the prime minister, the chief justice of India, the Lok Sabha speaker, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and an eminent jurist.

Currently, there is no Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha as the Congress does not have the required 10% representation of the strength of the lower house to stake claim to the post.

The Lok Pal Act is yet to be amended to include the leader of the single largest party in the Opposition as a member of the Selection Committee, a fact that Kharge pointed out in the letter.

Kharge had not attended the meetings of the Selection Committee that were held on March 1 and April 10 this year.