All-party meeting on Lokpal Bill ended on today

An all-party meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which aimed at bringing an end to the deadlock over Lokpal Bill, ended on today.

The meeting was held to discuss the proposed legislation which could not be passed on the last day of the Winter Session in Rajya Sabha amid pandemonium.

While attending the meet the prime minister said that United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is committed to an effective Lokpal to check corruption.

"Our government stands committed to an effective Lokpal legislation," Manmohan Singh said at the all-party meet.

"We look forward to benefitting from the wisdom and guidance of all leaders present here in the task that we have set for ourselves," he said.

Leaders of parties in Rajya Sabha including BJP's Arun Jaitley, BSP's SC Mishra, RJD's Ram Kripal Yadav, SP's Ram Gopal Yadav, NCP'S Tariq Anwar and CPI's AB Bardhan met at the Prime Minister's residence to discuss the controversial bill, to which 97 amendments have been moved by Opposition members in the Upper House.

Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram, AK Antony and Salman Khurshid were among those present at the meeting.

Opposition parties have moved 97 amendments to the Bill in Rajya Sabha some of which were contentious and the meeting would discuss ways to evolve consensus on them, sources said.

Some of the amendments, the sources said, are for bringing the Prime Minister's Office under the Lokpal, seek exclusion of Lokayukta from the Bill, abolition of minority quota and inclusion of Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha as one of the members of the selection committee.

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.

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.

Sources says: Will Mamata vote against the government today?

Mamata Banerjee's commitment to her fight against the National Counter Terrorism Centre could be tested today in Parliament. The head of the Trinamool Congress has field-marshalled a group of ten chief ministers who have opposed the Centre's new anti-terror agency on the grounds that it erodes the autonomy of state governments.

Ms Banerjee's party members had moved amendments to "the motion of thanks to the President" for her speech delivered this week to Parliament. In the Lok Sabha, these amendments have been rejected on technical grounds - the wording was incorrect and they were filed too late. But they've been accepted in the Rajya Sabha. The main Opposition party, the BJP, has moved similar amendments. So if Ms Banerjee wants to further embarrass the government which she belongs to, her MPs could vote with the BJP and against the ruling UPA. That's not likely to happen, say sources.

The exit route for Ms Banerjee may come in the form of a protest by her MPs, who could walk out of the House before a vote, demanding financial assistance for West Bengal, which is governed by their leader. Ms Banerjee has been asking the Centre for Rs. 22000 crore; she also wants the Centre to suspend the interest the state owes on loans already taken.

Financial assistance is the Centre's only hold over Ms Banerjee, whose relationship with the UPA has been in the danger zone for a while now. At a dinner hosted by the Prime Minister last night, Ms Banerjee was missing - she chose to fly to Nagpur instead to attend a wedding. The fact that she deputed a first-time MP, Ratna De Nag, and not one of her senior ministers or leaders was seen as a flat snub to the Congress.

Pointedly, Ms Banerjee deputed two of her Union ministers to attend the swearing-in of the Punjab government, a partnership between the Akalis and the BJP. For the UPA's political rival, Ms Banerjee sent a senior delegation. The Prime Minister's dinner, in comparison, received minimal attention.

At the dinner on Tuesday night, senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee made it clear that Ms Banerjee's amendments could cost the government heavily - if a vote was held, he warned, the government could lose.

Ms Banerjee's 19 Lok Sabha MPs give her the power to call the shots with the Congress - without her support, the UPA would collapse - and she has held the government and its policies to hostage with increasing daring. She recently forced the UPA to suspend its reforms in retail - the increased Foreign Direct Investment in shops or chains that stock different brands was a move by the Prime Minister and his team to prove wrong allegations of policy paralysis.

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.

PM says: UPA govt. has the ‘numbers’

Amid speculation that the country is heading to mid-term polls, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asserted on today that the UPA has the numbers required to maintain its majority in the Parliament.

Speaking to reporters before walking into the Parliament – the Budget Session begins today – the Prime Minister said that the government is willing to discuss and debate all issues.

“I am confident that this Budget Session will run smoothly,” he said.

Requesting all parties to cooperate on major challenges faced by the country, the PM added, “We are willing to discuss all issues on the floor of the Parliament.”

However, despite PM’s assurance, heated debates over what some opposition-ruled states see as Centre's efforts to usurp their powers through the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) is expected during the Session.

On the issue of the possibility of a mid-term poll, he said, “I am confident that we have all the numbers that are needed.”

The Congress has seemed to be vulnerable following humiliating defeats in key states such as Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, apart from Goa, the opposition parties are likely to go in for the kill - by attempting to forge floor coordination with some recalcitrant constituents of the UPA to embarrass the government on critical issues.

UPA faces tough budget session today

The Congress party's drubbing in the recent Assembly polls, talk of mid-term elections, key alliance partners pulling in different directions on federalism and price rise...the going for India's ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) appears tough as Parliament meets from Monday for considering and passing the budget for fiscal 2012-13.

The session, which will last till May 22 with a three-week break from March 31 to April 23, is expected to witness heated debates over what some opposition-ruled states see as centre's efforts to usurp their powers through the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC).

This issue is likely to bring together unlikely bed-fellows from both the opposition, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and ruling benches, as key allies of the UPA such as Trinamool Congress are opposed to the idea of giving up the state's police powers to fight terrorism to a central agency under the country's home ministry.

The ruling party from West Bengal led by Mamata Banerjee is also likely to give headaches to the UPA on other fronts too. It has expressed its opposition to a cut in fertiliser subsidy, and has spoken against the hike in the prices of petroleum products.

With the Congress most vulnerable following humiliating defeats in key states such as Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, apart from Goa, the opposition parties are likely to go in for the kill - by attempting to forge floor coordination with some recalcitrant constituents of the UPA to embarrass the government on critical issues.

The ruling party leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chief Sonia Gandhi face an uphill task, as the biennial polls to 58 Rajya Sabha seat from 15 states will be held on March 30, even as the Parliament is in session.

During the three-month session, which will begin with the customary address by President Pratibha Patil -- her last as she retires in July -- to the joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the government will try and get the 2012-13 budget passed.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will present the budget March 16, and the country's Economic Survey will be tabled on March 15.

The Rail Budget will be presented on March 14 by Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi, whose remarks on the possibility of midterm Lok Sabha polls will find an echo in Parliament, though he later made it clear that his party did not want to pull down the UPA government.

After the budget is presented, Parliament will take a break to enable debates of demands for grants of various ministries by the respective standing committees.

BJP's Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj has already complained during an all-party meeting convened by Speaker Meira Kumar about the short duration Budget Session's first phase when her party and other opposition want to raise several issues of national concern.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, though, informed that the government will be ready to debate any matter that the opposition may want to bring up on the floor of the two houses of Parliament.

The Budget Session, usually held from February, got delayed this year due to the assembly polls and the election code that was in place.

The BJP is confident that even Congress' allies will side with it when it corners the government on the issue of federalism, farmers' issues such as move to ban cotton exports, and price rise.

The government is dependent on its allies, and partly on the opposition benches, if it has to get the crucial Lokpal Bill, after the Lok Sabha rejected it, passed in the Rajya Sabha. Another key UPA legislation to provide food security is with a parliamentary standing committee.

Opposition is readying to put the government on the mat over a host of other issues such as the action against space scientists, including G Madhavan Nair, in vew of the controversial spectrum deal between Indian Space Research Organisation's Antrix and private sector Devas.

It may also raise the delays in operationalising the Kudankulam nuclear plants project in Tamil Nadu that has faced protests from non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Manmohan Singh had recently charged the NGOs with getting foreign help in their protests against the nuclear plant.

The BJP will also rake up its pet issue of illegal money stashed in tax havens abroad and may demand a white paper on the issue.

It may also move a calling attention motion to discuss the situation arising out of Norway's decision to put two Indian kids in foster care after separating them from their parents.

Mamata Banerjee will skip inauguration ceremony of NSG hub today

A day after opposing the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) along with six other chief ministers, Mamata Banerjee will on today skip the inauguration ceremony of a National Security Guards (NSG) hub near here.

The NSG hub at Badu in North 24 Parganas district will be inaugurated by Home Minister P Chidambaram, who had mooted the idea to set up an anti-terror intelligence hub, named NCTC.

The development comes as another setback to the Congress-TMC alliance which has been going through a rough patch for quite some time.

Banerjee on Friday, along with her counterparts from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and Tamil Nadu, came out against a the setting up of NCTC from March 1, saying such a powerful body would infringe upon the rights of states.

In Andhra Pradesh, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu also spoke out against the anti-terror body.

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government tried to play down the issue, with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee saying a decision would be taken after studying the criticism.

Led by the most vocal Naveen Patnaik of Odisha, the chief ministers declared that they were against the NCTC because they had not been consulted before New Delhi notified it.

In separate letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, six of them complained that the proposed NCTC would infringe on the federal structure and the rights of state governments.

The powerful anti-terror agency, a brainchild of Chidambaram, will integrate and analyse inputs on terror threats in India. It becomes functional on March 1.

It allows Central government agencies to make arrests or searches in terrorism-hit states without seeking permission from their governments.

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 in Lok Sabha today

The much-awaited Lokpal Bill will be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Today and the anti-graft legislation will be discussed during Parliament's extended session on December 27.

Although, the bill has solid backing of UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, threat of a fast by noted social worker Anna Hazare also looms large on it.

The session, originally scheduled to end on December 22, will now reconvene on December 27-29 to discuss the bill.

However, the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal, two parties supporting the ruling UPA from outside, have struck a discordant note, saying the bill would make the local police very powerful.

Meanwhile, Anna, who has already threatened to go on a three-day fast, has rejected the bill as a betrayal of the people and said the legislation would not provide for a strong anti-graft institution.

"People will teach a lesson to this government one day," Anna said yesterday in his Ralegan-Siddhi village in Maharashtra.

He wondered how the proposed bill could be described as strong when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was being kept outside the ombudsman's ambit.

Taking on Anna, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi also said that there was a "deliberate and malicious misinformation" campaign that the Congress was not tackling corruption.

She listed bills on protection of whistleblowers, enhancing judicial accountability, the citizens right to grievance redressal, and the Lokpal bill which will be taken up for discussion from December 27-29.

Stating "she was ready to fight for the anti-graft Lokpal and women's reservation bills in the Lok Sabha" Gandhi dismissed as "rumours" that there were differences between the government and the ruling party.

She urged Congress MPs to be prepared for the battle in the house.

Describing the Lokpal bill as a "pathbreaking" legislation, the UPA chairperson urged the opposition parties and anti-corruption activist Hazare to accept it.

"They must accept it. I am always ready for a fight," said Gandhi.

The government draft bill brings the Prime Minister under Lokpal but leaves out two other key demands of the activist for inclusion of the CBI and the lower bureaucracy.

Interestingly, while MoS Narayanasamy said the "only opposition to the bill was from Anna" both Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal opposed the legislation.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad joined SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav in saying there should be "consensus" before the bill is brought to Parliament and a decision on such a major issue could not be taken without giving it a thought. The SP has 22 MPs while the RJD has four MPs.

However, the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said it will not comment on the bill until the final draft is circulated among MPs.

The remark came a day after several BJP leaders said they will protest the bill and called it "cheating the people."

"Even a full stop or a comma changes the meaning of a sentence... we will see the bill and only then give any comment," BJP leader SS Ahluwalia said.

The BJP said it wants the dissent note on the bill, given by its members who were on the Parliamentary Standing Committee, included.

Earlier in the day, senior BJP leader LK Advani along with Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to discuss the bill.