Bring PM under Lokpal, says Ravi Shankar Prasad

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday demanded the prime minister should be brought under the Lokpal bill while supporting the anti-graft legislation.

"The prime minister should come under it," BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said while speaking during a debate on the Lokpal bill in the Rajya Sabha.

"Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had offered to be under the Lokpal bill," he said while supporting the bill.

"This would send a strong message," he said.

He thanked social activist Anna Hazare for pushing the government on the need to bring in such a bill.

Stating that there had been a delay, he said the government could have passed the bill in 2011 itself.

"We supported the Lokpal bill. Why could you not pass it in 2011 itself?" asked Prasad.

Noting that the select committee of the Rajya Sabha unanimously agreed on the recommendations, he said the same should have happened in the report of the 2G Joint Parliamentary Committee also.

Noting the youth wanted change, Prasad said the country was shamed by the various corruption scandals that surfaced in the past few years.

"The youth wants change but the country was shamed by the scams," he said.

Targeting the government for providing reservation for minorities on the Lokpal panel, Prasad said: "those occupying the anti-graft office should remember the enormity of the power and the responsibility of the post".

He sought clarification from Law Minister Kapil Sibal on the trial period, and "whether an MP (member of parliament) was a public servant".