BJP plays it safe on new Lokpal Bill

Party distances itself from spokesperson's remark on Tuesday

December 21, 2011 11:59 pm | Updated November 17, 2021 12:03 am IST - NEW DELHI:

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday underplayed the response of its spokesperson on Tuesday night describing the new Lokpal Bill as “betrayal of the people” on the plea that it was based on media reports and insisted that it would give its considered view only after the official version was available.

Throughout the day, party leaders kept maintaining that they could not comment on the new Bill that was cleared by the Cabinet till they had seen the ‘fine print' of the proposed legislation.

The cautious approach is based on the premise that an instant reaction suggesting opposition to the Bill would give an impression that it is coming in the way of passage of a legislation that has generated intense debate.

Besides, the party would like to gauge the response of others before pronouncing its view. As the Bill would come up for consideration and passage only on December 27, the BJP would have the benefit of another five days to formulate its response.

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said for the record that the party would wait to see how far the government had accommodated the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) views as articulated in the dissent note appended to the Parliamentary Standing Committee.

The NDA members on the Committee had flagged 18 points in the dissent note. The nature and degree of jurisdiction of the Lokpal on the CBI and inclusion of the Prime Minister under the institution are among the two major issues that figure in the note.

With the Cabinet putting its seal of approval on inclusion of the Prime Minister with some safeguards under the Lokpal, the BJP should have no quarrel with the government on the issue.

However, the CBI would be a bone of contention. Unlike what has been approved by the government, the BJP wants the Lokpal to be on the panel to select the CBI Director.

The new Bill envisages that the Director would be chosen by a panel consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Justice of India.

The BJP also wants the Lokpal to have administrative control over the CBI. It would entail the issues like postings, transfer and disciplinary action of those associated with the CBI.

The party leaders said that if the Bill, as proposed by the government, does not reflect the points raised by the NDA members in the dissent note, they would move amendments when the Bill comes up for consideration and passage.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.