All-party meet has government in minority, as other parties say too much encroachment on state powers; Left asks government to try harder for consensus
Coalition partners and allies of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party to shoot down Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s initiative to create a consensus on the Lok Pal Bill.
The BJP raised the issue of encroachment on state governments’ powers on the appointment of the proposed Lokayuktas and endorsed the demand that the provision be deleted. The Lok Janshakti Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal did not support the concept of a Lok Pal itself. With no common ground, the Bill will now only be taken up in the second half of the Budget session in the Rajya Sabha (the Lok Sabha has passed it), after the three-week recess.
The Prime Minister on Friday first addressed the gathering, after which finance minister Pranab Mukherjee went over the contents of the Bill.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC), the DMK and the NCP, all part of the coalition government, were not on the same page as the government, as was the case with the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party.
Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, who represented the TMC at the meeting, later said, “We opposed the inclusion of a Lokayukta in the Lok Pal Bill in its present form, as it will harm the federal structure. It was also opposed by all political parties.”
BJP leader Arun Jaitley, also opposition head in the Rajya Sabha, said the consensus among parties, including some UPA constituents, was completely against the government, with the feeling that the federal structure could not be disturbed and the Lokayukta provision be deleted.
SP leader Mohan Singh spoke on similar lines. He said he’d proposed a select committee study the suggestions proposed by the parties, to which Mukherjee responded it would require further deliberation, as parties are wont to change their stand on the floor of Parliament.
Echoing the BJP on the Lokayuktas, constituents of its NDA grouping demanded the government try and bring another law to bar heads of the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Intelligence Bureau and the Central Vigilance Commission from accepting post-retirement appointments.
The Akali Dal’s Naresh Gujral said, “The appointment (procedure) for Lok Pal is biased in favour of the government; it needs greater consensus.” He also noted the CBI was perceived to be a part of the government.
The Left parties were in agreement with the BJP on the appointment and removal of the Lok Pal. CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said the process needed to be democratic and accountable. The government should not have the sole say in the appointment, he said, demanding more representation for the Opposition.
Yechury added, “There was a demand that cases of corruption being probed by the CBI should be under the superintendence and control of the Lok Pal”.
The Left parties proposed that companies and non-government groups getting government funding be brought under the Lok Pal’s ambit. Jaitley later said foreign-funded non-government organisations could be under its scanner, but other private NGOs and institutions like schools and hospitals run by NGOs should be kept out.
The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in the earlier, winter, session of Parliament. The government is in a minority in the Rajya Sabha. Yechury said the government should utilise the period between March 30 and April 23, after which the Houses are to reconvene, to create a consensus among all parties to get the Bill cleared. This becomes all the more imperative as Anna Hazare, whose stir brought about the Bill’s drafting, has already threatened another round of agitations, beginning with a one-day fast on March 25 at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.
