Antony: Army Chief VK Singh refused to pursue bribe case

A day after Army Chief General VK Singh’s explosive remarks that he was offered Rs 14 crore bribe to clear a defence purchase, Union Defence Minister AK Antony on Today said strictest action would be taken against the guilty.

Making a statement in Parliament, Antony told Rajya Sabha that the Army Chief had informed him about the incident more than a year back and that he had asked Gen Singh to take action.

However, “the Army Chief told me at that time that he didn’t want to pursue it”, Antony informed the House.

The minister further said he was shocked to hear the incident, adding a comprehensive CBI probe would be held into the matter.

PM Manmohan Singh has called an all-party meeting on today

 In a fresh bid to end the deadlock over Lokpal Bill, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called an all-party meeting on today to discuss the proposed legislation which could not be passed on the last day of the Winter Session in Rajya Sabha amid pandemonium.

The meeting will be held at Singh's residence at noon on today. The Parliament will not meet on that day due to festivals like Gudi Padwa and Ugadi.

Government is keen on passing the Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha even as the opposition and social activist Anna Hazare have renewed pressure on the issue.

Hazare has said he will go on a fast from March 25 if the Bill is not passed while BJP has said in the Upper House that the debate and amendments to the Bill should be taken up from where they were left on the night of December 29 when the House was adjourned amid a din.

Lok Sabha has already passed the Bill.

Under the renewed effort, the government is planning to drop the clauses in the Lokpal Bill pertaining to setting up of Lokayuktas in states, a provision that faced stiff opposition from friends and foes alike.

A senior minister had said recently that the government was contemplating the move that would help clear the obstacles in the way of its easy passage in Parliament as also dismiss the opposition campaign that Congress was against the measure.

The fresh consultation is aimed at ensuring that the anti-graft Bill is passed in the first part of the Budget Session which ends on March 30.

The status of the Bill in Rajya Sabha is still unclear. Congress has maintained that amendments moved in the Winter Session have lapsed and members will have to give fresh notices on the Bill.

However, the opposition insists that government had sought adjournment of the House on December 29 on the grounds that there were as many as 187 amendments and it needed time to go through it. Now that the government has had sufficient time, the proceedings should begin from where they were left.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said the government has studied the amendments moved by opposition and UPA allies.

"We want to bring the Bill within this part of the session itself," he said in Rajya Sabha last week.

His statement marked a change of stand by the government as the minister had at a session-eve press conference said it would be difficult to take up the Bill in the first part due to financial business.

Anna Hazare will start anti-Congress campaign for 2014 polls, Government's intention on Lokpal not clean

  The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded that today's Question Hour be suspended for a discussion on the Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha. And Team Anna is once again keeping a close eye on the proceedings in Parliament. However, they are not too hopeful.

Anna Hazare believes that the government has no intention of passing a strong Lokpal Bill and he and his team are preparing for an-anti Congress movement for the 2014 elections.

"We won't approach the government again. We have been doing that for the last one year. Their intentions with the Lokpal is not clean. They have been fooling the people again and again. Why go to them once again? We are now preparing for 2014. The Parliament elections are going to happen. I am going to start travelling across the country within a month or two and would instigate people against the government," said Anna Hazare.

However, Anna's close aide Arvind Kejriwal believes that the Congress-led UPA may have learnt its lesson after the recently-concluded state elections.

"We hope that the government will learn its lesson from what happened in the elections in these five states. We hope that they would withdraw this bad and dangerous Lokpal Bill which would only increase corruption. We want them to prepare a good Lokpal Bill and get it passed as soon as possible," Mr Kejriwal said.

Yesterday, on day one of the Budget Session, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had asked the Opposition to allow Parliament to function. But with BJP's plan set for the second day, it is on a collision course with the government, which wants to discuss the Bill only later in the session. With different agendas on the minds of the government and the Opposition, today's proceedings may well lead to a logjam, once again, due to the contentious Lokpal Bill.

Mayawati is move to Delhi as an Member of Parliament

With return to power in Uttar Pradesh far in the horizon, and national politics heating up with mid-term poll talks, BSP chief Mayawati is all set to move to Delhi as an Member of Parliament.

Mayawati on Tuesday filed her nomination papers for Rajya Sabha polls in Lucknow. Her entry into the upper house of Parliament is a foregone conclusion as her party has 79 MLAs in the Assembly.

The move to file nomination comes after the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister held a meeting with party MPs, MLAs and office-bearers over the issue.

Clearly, Mayawati’s latest move appears to be aimed at establishing herself at the national level prior to the Lok Sabha polls scheduled to be held in 2014.

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.

Lokpal Bill in Rajya Sabha today

Two days after getting the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill passed in Lok Sabha, the UPA government will introduce the same for a debate and approval in Rajya Sabha on Today.

The decision to introduce the Lokpal Bill in the Upper House was taken shortly after President Pratibha Patil gave her approval for the same yesterday.

The President's approval was required for the measure since the Lok Sabha made some amendments to The Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill, 2011 before its passage.

After the Lokpal Bill is tabled in the Upper House, a debate on the same would be held which will conclude with a vote.

The controversial Bill is being tabled in the Upper House amid concerns that the UPA government lacks adequate majority required to get the same passed in the Rajya Sabha.

Uncertainty prevails over the smooth passage of anti-graft legislation in the Upper House since Trinamool Congress – a major UPA ally- has decided to make a key amendment to the legislation adopted by Lok Sabha further complicating the numbers game in the House.

Trinamool Congress, which has 6 members in the 243-member Upper House where the Congress and its allies do not have majority, wants removal of the provisions relating to the setting up of Lokayuktas in the state which is contained in the Bill passed by Lok Sabha yesterday. If the Government accepts the amendments, the Bill will have to be referred to the Lok Sabha again or a joint session of Parliament has to be convened for its clearance.

UPA troubleshooter and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee yesterday held talks with leaders of Trinamool Congress, which has strong reservations over provisions in the bill that it considers encroachment on the states’ rights on appointment of the Lokayukta.

Trinamool Congress leaders Mukul Roy and Sudeep Bandopadhayay met Mukherjee after which Roy said the question of creating trouble for the government does not arise. With Mukherjee reportedly ruling out any further amendments, Trinamool Congress has tabled amendments for removal of provisions relating to Lokayuktas that it feels are encroaching on the powers of states.

In a House with an effective strength of 243, the Congress and other allies in the UPA account for 94 and can count on the support of eight nominated members and independents and members of small parties accounting for around 10 MPs.

The Constitution Amendment Bill, an idea of Rahul Gandhi to give Constitutional status to Lokpal and Lokayukta, was also favoured by the Standing Committee which considered the bill.

A Constitution Amendment Bill to be passed should have more than 50 per cent of the members of the House present and of them, two-third support is mandatory.

Concerned about this, MoS in PMO, V Narayanasamy said this morning, “The Congress party had issued a whip asking its MPs to be present and vote in favour of the bill in Rajya Sabha. The party is concerned about the fate of the Lokpal Bill and is determined to get the same passed in the Upper House.”

The minister expressed concerns about the possible absence of its own MPs and those from major allies including NCP, DMK, BSP, SP and RJD during the voting in Rajya Sabha - the absence of some MPs resulted in the defeat of the Constitution Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha.

The Congress party has decided to take action against its own members, who staged a walkout or remained absent during the voting on the Constitution Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha earlier.

The government has reasons to worry in case the members of its alliance partners including the DMK. SP, RJD and BSP walk out of the House during voting as they did in Lok Sabha.

In the 245-member House, the Congress and its allies NCP, DMK, Trinamool Congress, LJP and RLD together have 93 members. Parties supporting the UPA from outside - BSP (18), SP (5) and RJD (4) -- account for 27 crucial votes.

These three parties had walked out of Lok Sabha before voting on the Lokpal Bill last night but their absence did not matter much because the bill required only a simple majority and it was passed by a voice vote.

However, the absence of 42 MPs from these three parties in the Lok Sabha spelt disaster for the government in the Constitutional Amendment Bill, which required a special majority for passage.

Probably, this has triggered concerns in the Congress government, which is making every attempt to ensure that the Lokpal Bill sails through choppy seas in Rajya Sabha.

On Tuesday, Lok Sabha voted on the two bills after a 10-hour long debate that had 38 speakers and saw heated exchanges, but Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention at 4.40 pm indicated the government's resolve to press ahead despite stiff opposition, primarily on the question of constitution of Lokayuktas in the states.

The opposition proposed nearly 90 amendments in all and the voting process for the three bills went on for nearly two hours, ending close to midnight.

Most opposition members wanted the CBI to be freed of government control, but opinion was divided on whether the agency should be brought under the Lokpal.

Members wanted deletion of Section 24, which requires the Lokpal to send reports on charge-sheeted MPs to the presiding officers of the two houses of Parliament, asking them to take action against the member.

Lokpal Bill: Special emissary to seek President's nod

While the Lok Sabha passed the Lokpal Bill on Tuesday, a debate in Rajya Sabha on the Bill has been delayed till Thursday as the government has not been able to seek President’s nod for the same so far.

President Pratibha Patil is currently in Hyderabad and the government will send a special emissary to the Andhra capital to seek the President’s nod.

As per Article 117 of the Constitution, the President has to approve in writing before the Lokpal Bill passed by Lok Sabha could be forwarded to Rajya Sabha for debate and vote.

Article 117 states that a Bill or amendment making provision for any of the matters specified in sub clauses (a) to (f) of clause ( 1 ) of Article 110 shall not be introduced or moved except on the recommendation of the President.

If the President gives her nod without delay, the Lokpal Bill could be forwarded to Rajya sabha today itself and taken up for debate.

However, sources say that is unlikely to happen and the debate would most likely be held tomorrow, which is the last day of the extended Winter Session.