Aggressive BJP to corner Govt over Lokpal Bill

The second day of Parliament’s Budget Session on Tuesday is expected to be stormy with the opposition BJP moving a motion for suspension of Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha for discussion on Lokpal Bill.

The Upper House was, meanwhile, adjourned till noon after opposition uproar over government's stand on atrocities on Sri Lankan Tamils.

The DMK, AIADMK and Left parties had moved notices for suspension of the Question Hour to discuss atrocities on Sri Lankan Tamils.

The motion concerning Lokpal Bill, moved by Leader of the Opposition in the Upper House Arun Jaitley, comes after the government stated that it plans to take up the Bill in the second part of the Budget Session beginning April 24.

The BJP is however demanding a discussion on the issue today itself, saying it wants an “adequate reply” from the government.

Discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President for her address to Parliament is on the agenda for today.

The Lok Sabha had cleared the Lokpal Bill on December 27 in the extended Winter Session. However, the Bill couldn't be passed in the Rajya Sabha and both sides accused each other of choreographing chaos to scuttle the legislation.

In his customary eve-of-the-session media interaction, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had said that the government has "very little time" for legislative business in the first part of the session inspite of the fact that 39 bills are listed for consideration and passing, including the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, which has been approved by the Lok Sabha.

Soon after the BJP's threat to take up the Lokpal issue, Congress president Sonia Gandhi held consultations with her senior colleagues.

Those present included Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Bansal, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and Political Secretary to Congress President Ahmad Patel.

Mukherjee also held a meeting with BJP leaders LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Yashwant Sinha.

Govt: Lokpal Bill to be passed in Budget Session

The UPA government squarely blamed the BJP for the failure to get the Lokpal Bill passed in the Parliament.

Addressing a press conference on Friday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan kumar Bansal said that the government had wanted to table the debate in the Rajya Sabha on December 28 but the BJP didn’t agree to it.

“The minister was replying to the debate, suddenly a ruckus was created at 11.30 pm, leading to the adjournment till 11.45 pm. The house had to be adjourned at 12 midnight,” he said clarifying the government’s stand.

Bansal said that the bill is pending in the register of the Rajya Sabha and would be taken up when the house reconvenes for the Budget Session.

“They (BJP) are guilty of stalling proceeding for the simple reasons that they didn’t want it to be passed. As many as 180 amendments were passed and some of them are self contradictory,” he said.

Bansal said that even if the bill were to be passed with amendments, the bill had to be sent back to the Lok Sabha – and the lower house was already adjourned sine dine.

“The law dept fine tunes these amendments as they are to be part of the law. There had to be time with the government to consider the amendments…Suppose an amendment was to be carried, the minister will have to rise and say that the bill as amended is passed. Can any govt do it?” he added.

“187 amendments have been moved. If all amendments had to be passed then it will take time. It is the government’s responsibility to pass the bill,” Bansal said.