Under pressure from Gandhian Anna Hazare, BJP and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Congress on Thursday said the lokpal Bill will come up in Rajya Sabha on Monday.
The finality about the date came after day-long confusion, triggered by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath. While Nath said the lokpal Bill will come up in Rajya Sabha on Friday, his Cabinet colleague Harish Rawat, a few hours later at the official AICC briefing said the anti-corruption Bill would be tabled on Monday.
While the BJP, NCP, and JD(U) assured full support to the lokpal Bill, UPA’s allies like Samajwadi Party expressed their reservations against the Bill propelled by social activist Anna Hazare. However, the AAP hit out at the Parliament’s claims to pass the lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha.
As Hazare’s indefinite fast entered the third day on Thursday to mount pressure on political parties to introduce lokpal in the country, the Centre has assured Anna Hazare that the Bill will be taken up in the ongoing Parliament session.
“Our priority is the lokpal Bill and the Government will list the measure in the Rajya Sabha on Friday. The Bill has to be taken up in Rajya Sabha, and then it will come up in lok Sabha,” Nath said adding that there are no plans at the moment to curtail the session.
“We have allocated time for other businesses and we have a list of priorities,” he added.
However, Rawat stated that the lokpal Bill would be taken up on Monday in Parliament. “We want this Parliament to take credit for being the one which enacted the historic lokpal Bill. This being the last effective session of this,” Rawat said. Congress spokesperson Priya Dutt was also present on the occasion.
Underlining their intent to get some “serious” legislative business transacted in the six remaining days of this session, Rawat rejected the Opposition’s charge that the Government itself was not interested in having both houses of Parliament function.
Expressing full support to the lokpal issue, the BJP dared the Government to bring the Bill with amendments unanimously adopted by the Rajya Sabha Select Committee and get it passed in the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament.
The party announced that the Government should drop the two amendments on which there is disagreement. The Government is opposed to the amendment which states that the lokpal should be consulted before a CBI officer probing a case is transferred.
leader of the Opposition in lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley alleged that the Government does not want to pass important Bills like the one on lokpal and formation of Telangana.
“The lokpal Bill was sent to a Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha. The committee, which was headed by Congress member Satyavrat Chaturvedi, held several sittings and all political parties were privy to it. There were 13 unanimous recommendations adopted by the committee. The Government should bring the Bill with these amendments and the BJP will support it along with the UPA. The Rajya Sabha can pass it on Friday and it can be passed by the lok Sabha on Monday,” Jaitley said at a Press conference in Parliament House.
The BJP said just as the Government got the supplementary demands for grants (general) and (Railways) passed in the din, it should get the lokpal Bill passed too as it has been debated for the last 46 years and also cleared by the RS Select Committee.
Alleging that the “bonafides” of the Government on this issue were suspect, Jaitley said the Select Committee had submitted its report on December 23, 2012 but the Manmohan Singh dispensation had still not brought the lokpal Bill. The main Opposition also emphasised that the Select Committee report is the property of the Upper House and the Union Cabinet does not have any right to amend it. Jaitley said only the Rajya Sabha has the right to make amendments to the lokpal Bill and then send it to lok Sabha for discussion and passage.
However, AAP leader and advocate Prashant Bhushan said that the Bill they are talking about is not what Anna had asked for. “This Bill does not have the three requirements- lokpal at the Centre, lokayukta in the State and Prime Minister and all other ministers to be under the purview of the lokpal and the citizen’s charter. They are making false promises and are fooling the people of the country about the Bill they will pass. The system is corrupt.”
Meanwhile, SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav said there is no question of supporting it and another party colleague senior leader Naresh Agarwal said: “The Government has lost the trust of the people so it should not bring any Bill in the House.”
Supporting the measure, JD(U) leader KC Tyagi said the party is in favour of setting up lokpal and NCP leader DP Tripathi said they are in favour of passing the lokpal Bill in the current session.