*Cong, allies creating hurdles: BJP
NEW DELHI, Dec 14: Giving a big push to the Lokpal bill, Rahul Gandhi today appealed to political parties to set aside differences to ensure its passage to fight corruption and dismissed suggestions that Congress drubbing in Delhi polls and Anna Hazare’s fast were forcing the Government’s hand.
Flanked by Finance, Law and Personnel Ministers, Gandhi addressed a special press conference at the Congress headquarters to make a strong pitch asking parties to set aside their differences for its passage.
“Our job is to give this country a powerful Lokpal bill. We are 99 per cent there and what we need is one per cent from the political parties and we can actually finish and deliver Lokpal,” he said.
With the Lokpal bill slated for a debate in Rajya Sabha on Monday and apparently referring to Samajwadi Party’s opposition to the Bill, Gandhi said, “all parties should together accomplish this bill. I appeal to all parties to support this bill.. This is in national interest.”
Asked whether the Government’s push for the bill was to show to the voter something in the wake of the drubbing at the hands of the AAP in Delhi and Hazare’s indefinite fast, he said “This is not…We have struggled for a while but at every step Parliament is disrupted. This has to do with corruption and this has to do with serious weapon to deal with corruption like RTI.”
Gandhi said Lokpal is an “extremely important legislation” and is part of a larger framework to deal with corruption, of which RTI is the “single most powerful” weapon.
Again when asked whether Government’s sudden interest was because of electoral debacle, Gandhi said, “it is not a question of victory or defeat. This bill will help India…. this argument that we doing this as a result of elections is a bit unfair.”
Asked whether Hazare would be convinced by the Government efforts, he said, “our intention was to bring an anti- corruption infrastructure. We will keep doing this…Hazare is on fast, that is his perspective.”
The Lokpal bill, in an amended form after consideration by the Select Committee, was brought back to the Rajya Sabha yesterday for consideration but a discussion on it was thwarted by Samajwadi Party members.
“We should put aside our little differences, get together and finish the bill in national interest,” Gandhi said.
When asked about SP’s opposition to the bill, Chidambaram said, “it is possible, one or two parties may have reservations on the bill. I don’t think there is any party which says we shall not or should not have the Lokpal. No party has said so. They have reservations.
“Our appeal to them is to keep these reservations aside. We want to cross the finish line and get it into a law. I think the country needs a Lokpal and we can have a Lokpal in this session if parties set aside their reservations”.
Among the amendments made in the bill are delinking of the setting up of Lokayuktas in States, a highly controversial provision because of which many parties had opposed it in the House in December 2011.
The new bill also grants powers to ombudsman to sanction prosecution against public servants.
Chidambaram said the Government has made only two, three changes in the Select Committee report and the Minister of State for Personnel has moved official amendments to the original bill.
“There is nothing in the bill that erodes the authority of the Lokpal…. This bill acknowledges pre-eminence of Lokpal,.. It gives powers of an independent investigating agency…
“This bill balances the interests of the Government, the interests of the investigative agency, the interests of the prosecuting agency and the Government servants and it recognises the pre-eminence of the Lokpal,” said Chidambaram.
Chidambaram rejected suggestions that Lokpal will become all powerful and encroach on the Prime Minister’s power. “There is already a law which provides for appointment of CBI chief. There is a process. The Lokpal bill will not deal with appointment of CBI chief.”
Gandhi did not answer a question whether his statement that there is a need to learn from AAP was admission of failure of Congress after Congress general secretary Ajay Maken asked reporters to confine their queries to Lokpal.
Law Minister Kapil Sibal said the CBI will work under the Lokpal and the authority will be “broadbased” and “inclusive”.
Meanwhile,Anna Hazare, fasting for the last five days for passage of Lokpal bill at Ralegan Siddhi, today said he was happy with the amended legislation presented in the Rajya Sabha and would call off his hunger strike the moment the law is enacted.
“I will call off my fast as soon as the bill is passed by the Rajya Sabha, the Lok Sabha endorses it and the President signs it into a law,” Hazare told reporters, shortly after Rahul Gandhi made a strong pitch for passing the bill, describing it as a “very, very powerful instrument” in the fight against corruption.
Hazare said several of his expectations from the legislation have been met and expressed satisfaction over the bill which was presented in the Rajya Sabha yesterday.
“I am satisfied with whatever I have seen of the draft bill and so I welcome it,” he said.
The Gandhian, who is observing his fourth fast for anti-corruption ombudsman, said some issues he wanted to be incorporated into the bill might have been left out but he was not disappointed.
“If I try to impose my view on Parliament, it will be wrong. Parliament has its own place of prominence, it doesn’t matter if 2-3 things have been left out,” he said.
Hazare expressed satisfaction over the selection process of the Lokpal which would be appointed by a collegium that would include an eminent jurist selected through consensus by its other four members—the Prime Minister, Lok Sabha Speaker, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India.
He said bringing the Prime Minister within the purview of the Lokpal and both CBI and CVC under its control were good steps.
“We had been insisting for a long time on freeing CBI from Government control”, he said.
Hazare said the draft bill also recommends setting up of Lokayuktas in States. “This is good. If State Governments don’t set up Lokayukta now, the people would take to streets,” he said.
He also described as a welcome step vesting the power with the Lokpal to seize the properties of those accused of corruption and to transfer officers during the course of investigation.
“The deadline of three months to CBI for completing a preliminary inquiry, six months for a detailed probe and settling the cases within a year is a welcome step, too,” he said, adding bringing NGOs receiving funds from abroad under the Lokpal was also a good move.
“Three issues for which we had campaigned in the past—Citizen’s Charter, steps for protection of whistleblowers and another one relating to the judiciary are also being addressed through separate bills in Parliament,” he said.
Asked if he considered the introduction of the bill in the Rajya Sabha and inclusion of various suggestions made by him a victory, the Gandhian quipped” what is victory for a poor man sitting in a temple?”
Hazare is fasting outside Yadavbaba Temple at his village since November 10.
“Time has came to move (ahead) with the present draft of Lokpal Bill and get it passed. Improvements can be made later through amendments once it becomes a Constitutional reality,” Hazare told earlier in the day.
The first indication of softening of Team Anna’s stand on the bill had come yesterday when former Army chief General V K Singh had said “if a person is naked, he should at least get undergarments, a three-piece suit can follow.”
In a sharp reaction to Rahul Gandhi’s comments on the Lokpal bill, BJP today alleged Congress and its allies are blocking the passage of the legislation and it is ready to support the measure even amid the din and without a discussion.
Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley charged Congress has been shifting its stand on Lokpal bill quite often and the party is not serious about passage of the bill.
“Government seems to have changed its heart again on the Lokpal bill…. The bill should ideally have been passed in Rajya Sabha yesterday itself. We reiterate our stand that it should be discussed and passed on Monday. If Congress and its allies do not allow the House to function, then we are ready to pass it without a debate,” Jaitley said.
BJP has underlined that the recommendations of the Select Committee of Rajya Sabha, which studied the Lokpal bill passed by the Lok Sabha earlier, are adequate and the new draft should be passed by the Upper House without much debate.
“In case there is no order in the House, I am ready to make my speech in the din,” Jaitley said.
BJP has demanded both Houses should pass the bill at the earliest.
However, two sticking points still remain and Jaitley insisted that BJP will not agree to these clauses. It wants only the unanimous amendments of the Select Committee to be adopted. Jaitley said the Government cannot interfere with the amendments made unanimously by the Select Committee.
“Government cannot have the right to transfer a CBI officer who is still probing a case referred to the agency by the Lokpal. Secondly, it should be upto the Lokpal to decide whether an officer being investigated for corruption or having disproportionate assets should be given a hearing before or after the search and seizure,” Jaitley said.
Accusing the Government of delaying passage of the Bill, BJP said the Select Committee submitted its report a year ago but the bill has still not been brought to the House.
Jaitley emphasised that BJP was never in agreement with the Lokpal bill passed by the Lok Sabha and hence wanted changes to avoid passage of a diluted legislation.
“There was no question of passing in the Rajya Sabha the Lokpal bill that was passed by the Lok Sabha. When we tried to get the bill passed with amendments in the Rajya Sabha, the Government stalled it. The Select Committee was formed. Though one year has passed since the Committee submitted its amendments, the Government has not brought the bill for some reason,” he said.
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Jaitley had held a press conference earlier this week to demand that Government pass the Lokpal Bill as the earliest.
The clamour for passage of this Bill, which has been hanging fire for long, comes against the backdrop of the ongoing indefinite fast of Anna Hazare to press for this legislation.
The recent impressive victory of Aam Admi Party, which was born out of the Lokpal agitation, in the Delhi Assembly elections has also woken up other political parties to this demand.
However, disruptions have prevented the bill from being taken up in the Rajya Sabha. BJP has alleged SP, outside ally of the UPA Government, is disrupting a debate on Lokpal Bill at the behest of Congress which does not want its passage.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said BJP does not want to leave the Government with any excuses on Lokpal Bill and will pass the draft cleared by the Select Committee of Rajya Sabha.
“Lokpal bill- BJP is prepared to pass Lokpal bill as approved by Select Committee without a discussion in the Parliament. We do not want to leave any excuses with the Government,” Swaraj said on Twitter.
She sought to know why Congress was trying to pass the blame for the failure to pass the Bill.
“Why us? We are prepared to pass the bill without discussion. Let Rajya Sabha pass Lokpal bill on Monday. We will pass the bill in Lok Sabha on Tuesday,” she said.
Expressing her party’s commitment to the appointment of a Lokpal, Swaraj said “all BJP-ruled States have Lokayuktas.” (PTI)
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