Lok Pal fiasco triggers all out war between govt, oppn

A political war broke out between government and Opposition today over Rajya Sabha's failure to pass Lok Pal Bill yesterday, with both sides accusing each of carrying out "well choreographed" chaos to scuttle it.

Under attack that it ran away from a vote because of lack of majority in the House, the government launched a media blitzkrieg in which BJP was the main target and painted as "villain" of the midnight drama.

The government underlined that the Bill was "alive" and would be taken up in the Budget Session and get it passed after working with parties.

In all the charges and counter charges, the government sought not to annoy its ally Trinamool Congress, which had ganged up with the Opposition and declared that it would vote against the provisions relating to Lokayuktas.

Chidambaram went a step further to say that Trinamool's concerns could be addressed by refining the provisions.

In its barrage, the BJP and the Left accused the government of "subterfuge and sabotage" through its allies and friendly parties, mainly the RJD.

Seeking to bring Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in their line of fire for "keeping silent" during the episode, Leaders of Opposition in both the Houses Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj said the government has lost the right to continue in office after the defeat in both the Houses and face fresh elections.

The government fielded four of its senior ministers -- P Chidambaram, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ambika Soni -- to launch a scathing attack on BJP.

"The BJP had no intention to pass the Bill. So they hit upon an ingenous devise to move 187 amendments, many of them contradictory and many of them cannot be reconciled in a few minutes," Chidambaram told a joint press conference.