The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday decided to oppose certain provisions in the Lokpal Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha and move for amendments in it.
Social activist Anna Hazare and his supporters on Thursday burned copies of government's version of the Lokpal Bill in Ralegaon Siddhi in Maharashtra. The Lokpal Bill was tabled in the Parliament on Thursday. N Ganesh reports.
Accusing the United Progressive Alliance government of "playing tricks" with the people of the country, Anna Hazare on Thursday questioned the rationale behind sending two versions of the Lokpal Bill to the Cabinet for consideration.
In the Upper House of Parliament, where the Lokpal Bill is likely to be taken up on Wednesday, the Congress does not have majority on its own or with its allies in the UPA.
The Lokpal Bill will come up for scrutiny by the Parliamentary Standing Committee for the first time on September 7.
Appealing to Anna Hazare to end his fast, the government on Wednesday said it has forwarded Jan Lokpal Bill to Parliament's Standing Committee for consideration and it is up to it to take a decision.
In a sharp reaction to Rahul Gandhi's comments on the Lokpal Bill, the Bhyaratiya Janata Party on Saturday 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.
With Lok Sabha taking up the Lokpal bill on Wednesday, there are expectations that Anna Hazare, whose fast entered the ninth day, will call it off after it is passed in the Lower House.
Former Union law minister and civil activist Shanti Bhushan has urged the government to hold an open debate on the Lokpal Bill so that the people of India get to know the stance taken by the various members of the drafting committee.Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, chairman of the Lokpal Bill Drafting committee, is yet to respond to Bhushan's demand.Bhushan, who is one of the five representatives of the civil society on the panel, said the government was backtracking.
With several versions of the Lokpal Bill doing the rounds, the Bharatiya Janata Party is in favour of inclusion of the prime minister in the ambit of Lokpal with certain riders and agrees with most of the provisions of Jan Lokpal Bill and Aruna Roy's draft, party sources said in New Delhi on Thursday.
Defending the Lokpal Act passed by Parliament last year, former IPS officer Kiran Bedi on Thursday attacked Aam Aadmi Party charging it with spreading "misinformation".
Sonia Gandhi is unlikely to meet Anna Hazare who wanted to discuss with the Congress chief the civil society's stand on the Lokpal Bill on Thursday.
Hazare said the Congress should understand the reality after the serious drubbing it received in the just-concluded assembly elections and ensure the passage of the Lokpal Bill in the winter session of Parliament which is underway
The much-awaited Lokpal Bill today got the assent from President Pranab Mukherjee, providing for the creation of an anti-graft watchdog which will bring even the prime minister under its purview with certain safeguards.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to go into a batch of Public Interest Litigations challenging constitutional validity of the notification on composition of a committee to draft the Jan Lokpal bill, saying the petitions were "premature".
The demand of Anna Hazare and his supporters is to draft a new Lokpal bill, place it before the Parliament and make it an act.
The much-hyped Lokpal Bill will be delayed further with the government on Wednesday saying it will bring the measure in the Rajya Sabha in the budget session with required amendments in the light of the report of the Select Committee.
Hardening its stand on the Lokpal Bill, United Progressive Alliance ally Trinamool Congress today ruled out any compromise on the Lokayukta provision and said the government should have faced voting in the Rajya Sabha.
The much-awaited Lokpal Bill is in for further delay with the term of a Parliamentary committee examining it being extended on Friday beyond September 3 to allow it to submit its report by the beginning of the Winter Session of Parliament.
The Lokpal Bill in its present form has not gone down well with the Central Bureau of Investigation whose officials feel that the autonomy of investigation has been "seriously compromised".
After civil society activists slammed the government's Lokpal Bill, the Centre on Friday said that people who are not satisfied with the Bill can approach the Standing Committee of Parliament and persuade it to make changes. Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, who was part of the joint committee to draft the bill, said the government has already reconciled taking into account a number of provisions suggested by the civil society.
With the Aam Aadmi Party's deadline of passing Jan Lokpal Bill nearing, the Delhi government on Tuesday said its draft was being finalised and it would be cleared in a cabinet meeting on Friday.
With pressure mounting on the Centre for enacting a strong anti-graft legislation, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday said the Lokpal Bill will "certainly" be introduced in the Winter Session of Parliament.
Criticising the government over the delay in the passage of the Lokpal Bill, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday said that the Bill should be passed before the Parliament session ends on Tuesday. "The government is still silent on the issue, maybe because no agitation is taking place on the streets," he said, adding that there was still no certainty whether the Bill would be passed in the Parliament or not.
The meeting of the Congress Core Group was held at a time when government is scrambling for numbers to pass the Lokpal Bill in Rajya Sabha with Trinamool Congress insisting that it will move amendments to delete the provision for setting up Lokayuktas at the state level.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee accused Bharatiya Janata Party of being responsible for the Rajya Sabha's failure to pass the Lokpal Bill by changing its stand within 24 hours.
The opposition strategy seems to be to get these amendments incorporated into the final bill that will then be put to vote. This will mean that the Congress may be forced to vote against the final bill, since it may not be in agreement with some of the amendments forced by the opposition.
The Lokpal Bill, which seeks to curb corruption, has run into rough weather after the government objected strongly to certain clauses in the much-anticipated bill.The prime bone of contention during Monday's meeting between representatives of the civil society and the Centre was the proposed inclusion of both the prime minister and the judiciary within the purview of the Lokpal bill.
Team Anna on Thursday demanded that the Citizen's Charter, specifying a time limit on government departments for providing services, should be included in the Lokpal Bill as it will help the common people to get their work done.
Dubbing the United Progressive Alliance at the Centre as "the most corrupt government ever seen by independent India", senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Saturday wanted the Lokpal bill to be passed in the next session of Parliament itself.
According to a Congress minister, who is handling the party's floor management in the Rajya Sabha, the Congress party, as on 5.30 pm on Thursday, does not have enough votes to pass the Lokpal bill in the Upper House of Parliament.
A move is afoot to extend the session of Parliament by three days from December 27 to 29 after a five day break from December 22, when it was scheduled to conclude, to facilitate adequate time for consideration of the Lokpal Bill. The Lokpal Bill is expected to be brought in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal has sounded Bharatiya Janata Party Parliamentary Party leader L K Advani on the move and has promised to get back.
Promising all efforts to get the Lokpal Bill passed in the current session of Parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday expressed confidence that it will be brought to the Cabinet on Sunday.
Civil society members on Thursday came down heavily on the government's decision to present only their version of the Lokpal Bill.
Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said their fight for a strong Jan Lokpal Bill was in the decisive stage and advocated the path of non-violence for achieving the objective.
The Anna Hazare team on Wednesday met Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Prakash Karat in New Delhi to explain the civil society's position on the Lokpal Bill ahead of the all party meeting on the issue.
Stating that the government is shocked at the comments made by veteran social activist Anna Hazare's team, Union Human Resource and Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday said steps as these would only slow down the drafting process of the Lokpal bill.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said that the United Progressive Alliance government was ready to bring in and get the Lokpal Bill passed in the next session of Parliament if the Opposition cooperated with it.
The government on Friday said the Lokpal Bill is ready and will be placed before the Union Cabinet for approval in its next meeting where a decision on whether to put the prime minister in its purview would be also taken.
The Aam Aadmi Party government's plans to enact the Jan Lokpal Bill in a public venue next week faced fresh hurdles with Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran insisting that Lt Governor's prior approval is necessary while key ally Congress toughened its opposition.
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