The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill may have been passed in the Lok Sabha today but that will not prevent the BJP in the Rajya Sabha to demand that it first be sent to the Standing Committee before agreeing to pass it, party leader Sushma Swaraj said here today.Swaraj was confident of their demand being met on three counts. First, the issue would have to be discussed by the Standing Committee on home affairs, of which she is a chairperson.Second, the RS chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat is competent to refer it to the Standing Committee without the concurrence of the House — according to the rules, it is the prerogative of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha to refer a bill to the Standing Committee.BJP deputy leader in the Lok Sabha V.K. Malhotra said he had raised the demand in the LS today but the Speaker did not agree to it. However, the BJP did not raise the issue forcefully, indicating that the party had decided that it had a better chance to get its way in the Rajya Sabha, sources said.The third reason for Swaraj’s optimism was that Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil has always been a votary of sending bills for scrutiny to the Standing Committees.Since the Unlwaful Activities (Prevention) Bill was significant, a thorough discussion was in order, Swaraj said.
