The Delhi government is likely to extend the ongoing Winter Session to allow passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill which was cleared by the cabinet earlier this week.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Tuesday said he welcomed the anti-corruption movements of Anna Hazare and Ramdev, but noted that Parliament has the sole authority to enact legislations, including the anti-corruption law.
The Delhi cabinet on Friday decided to call a special session of the assembly to take up the Jan Lokpal Bill that seeks to punish corrupt officials on February 16 at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium instead of the historic Ramlila ground as announced by ruling Aam Aadmi Party earlier.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday spurned Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's request for inputs on the proposed Lokpal Bill, arguing it would not be proper for a political party to submit its views to a drafting committee comprising civil society members as it would upset constitutional propriety.
The Central Vigilance Commission will suggest to the Parliamentary Standing Committee certain changes in the proposed Lokpal bill and pitch for greater powers to prosecute higher bureaucracy in corruption-related cases.
Charging the government with not being serious on the Lokpal Bill in Parliament, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said that it will make every effort to get the anti-corruption legislation passed.
The records of the debate are expected to be sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee examining the Lokpal Bill
The government may drop the clause on setting up of a Lokayukta in states in the Lokpal Bill to bring some opposition parties as also allies like Trinamool Congress on board.
On the eve of consideration of Lokpal Bill by the Rajya Sabha, Trinamool Congress on Wednesday mounted difficulties on the government by giving notice for amendment to the crucial legislation in which it wants references to formation of Lokayuktas to be dropped.
Unhappy over content of the new Lokpal Bill, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday said it would move amendments on issues such as inclusion of the Central Bureau of Investigation and against reservation for minorities, when the proposed legislation comes up for consideration and passing in Parliament on Tuesday.
The new Lokpal Bill was on Thursday at the centre of a fresh controversy before its introduction in the Lok Sabha, with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen members protesting exclusion of minorities from the anti-graft bench of the proposed ombudsman.
The ministers' draft of the Lokpal Bill has to be judged on the criteria whether it can subserve the object sought to be achieved, writes Leader of Opposition (Rajya Sabha) Arun Jaitley.
After an impressive turnout on Sunday, the morning crowd at the fast venue of Jantar Mantar in New Delhi was just around 400 with organisers blaming the low turn out on rains and disruption in Metro services due to collapse of the Northern Power Grid. They said they expect the crowd to swell as the day progressed.
The Parliamentary panel scrutinising the Lokpal Bill is likely to submit its report early next month and the redrafted legislation will be "far superior" to anything that has been proposed so far, Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid said on Sunday.
Dalit leader Udit Raj, who is campaigning against Team Anna's version of the Lokpal Bill, on Tuesday demanded that corporates, NGOs and media should be brought under the anti-corruption ombudsman to make the law "more effective". "If there is no representation of plurality, I don't think this law will be successful," the National Chairman of All India Confederation of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe Organisations said.
In a total anti-climax, the Rajya Sabha on Thursday adjourned abruptly without passing the Lokpal Bill in the midst of uproar after government sought more time for considering enormous number of amendments.
As consensus eluded political parties on the issue of Lokpal, activist Anna Hazare on Thursday said that he has confidence in Parliament and it will pass the bill.
Terming the Lokpal Bill approved by the Union Cabinet as an "eyewash", rights activist Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said it will "patronise" corruption and should be withdrawn. "The Bill approved by the Cabinet is to patronise corruption and an eyewash and it should be withdrawn. It betrays the aspirations and expectations of people fighting against corruption," Kejriwal told reporters.The government, he said, seemed to be in the "grip of the corrupt."
A meeting between Sonia Gandhi and Anna Hazare is expected soon despite differences between Congress and the civil society over the issue of Lokpal Bill. An indication to this effect was given by a senior party leader who declined to be identified.
Amid sharp differences between representatives of government and civil society, the two sides will meet on Monday in a last ditch attempt to resolve contentious issues and hammer out a consensus on Lokpal Bill.
Unable to comprehend the deliberations in English in the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill, anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare has sought an interpreter for himself from the next meeting.
The notification, one of the key demands of the anti-corruption campaign launched by Gandhian Anna Hazare, has been signed by V K Bhasin, Secretary, Legislative Department of the law ministry.
"Had we not been confident, we would not have introduced it," he told reporters while entering Parliament just ahead of the consideration of the crucial bill by the Lok Sabha.
The government will wait and see what the majority of MPs and political parties have to say once the bill comes to the floor for discussion. Renu Mittal reports.
Justice Santosh Hegde, who was part of the drafting committee of the Jan Lokpal Bill, says that his biggest complaint with regard to the new government draft of the Bill was that no independent probing agency had been provided for the Lokpal.
Veteran social activist Kisan Baburao alias Anna Hazare is going on fast unto death at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi from March 5 to press for Parliament to enact the 'Jan Lokpal bill' drafted by former Supreme Court Judge Santosh Hegde to effectively tackle corruption in the government.
In a bid to build pressure on the Parliamentary Standing Committee, Anna Hazare has decided to hold a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi if the panel does not come up with strong recommendations on Lokpal Bill.
Meetings of the joint drafting committee on Lokpal bill slated for June 20 and 21 would be a mere formality with little scope for discussion, Karnataka Lokayukta and a member of the panel Santosh Hegde said on Thursday.
Government on Thursday ruled out sending two drafts of Lokpal bill to the Union Cabinet in the wake of strong differences with the civil society which it accused of 'obstructing' the fight against corruption.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati has refused to respond to the questionnaire on provisions of the Lokpal Bill, saying that seeking opinion of her party before tabling the bill in the Lok Sabha was contradictory to Parliamentary traditions.
On the eve of the maiden meeting of the 10-member joint committee on Saturday to draft the Lokpal bill, government on Friday said it has an open mind on the issue.
Members of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha on Saturday debated and discussed the issue of the Jan Lokpal bill, for which activist Anna Hazare has been on a hunger strike since the last 12 days.
An all party meeting to seek views across the political spectrum on the issue of inclusion of the prime minister under the Lokpal Bill is likely to be held in the first week of next month.
Karnataka Lokayukta and a member of the Lokpal Bill drafting committee Santosh Hegde on Saturday said he was apprehensive about the final outcome of the proposed bill as it could be a watered down version of what was originally envisaged.
A day after social activist Anna Hazare launched his fast-unto-death on the Lokpal Bill issue, government on Wednesday said it was open to any suggestion on the proposed legislation and had not turned down his demand for a joint committee.
Following is the text of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks at the all party meeting on the Lokpal issue in New Delhi on Wednesday evening.
Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Monday took a swipe at the Aam Aadmi Party government, saying the country cannot run on 'Mohalla Sabhas' and a law cannot be decided on the streets.
Congress on Tuesday said it will not support the Jan Lokpal bill if it is brought by the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi without following "constitutional norms".
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley is expected to table the report of Rajya Sabha's Select Committee on Lokpal in the Upper House on Friday, the second day of the winter session of Parliament. The committee is headed by Congress leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi and such reports are usually tabled by the chairmen of the committees. The government is expected to consider the recommendations made by the Select Committee.
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