Stalled in last session,BJP raises pitch on Lokpal Bill again

BJP is in no mood to give up the Lokpal issue which had led to a dramatic RS adjournment on Dec 29.

The BJP appeared all set to raise a storm in the Rajya Sabha on the Lokpal Bill with Leader of Opposition demanding suspension of Question Hour tomorrow so that the House resumes functioning by taking up the anti-graft legislation,stalled in the last session.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley will give a notice tomorrow for suspension of Question Hour as the party is in no mood to give up the contentious Lokpal issue which had led to adjournment of the Upper House on the night of December 29 without passing the Bill.

“The reason government gave then is that it wants more time to go through those amendments moved by the members. By now,it has had enough time to study them,” Jaitley said today,adding that his party will demand that the Lokpal Bill debate be the first business that the Upper House takes up in the Budget session.

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The BJP leader insisted that the opposition wants an “adequate reply” from the government on this issue in Parliament.

“Nothing on the Lokpal debate was inconclusive,” he said and maintained that logically the Bill,which has already been passed by the Lok Sabha,should be passed in the Rajya Sabha.

Minister of State in PMO V Narayansamy had begun his reply to the debate when the House was adjourned by Chairman Hamid Ansari on the grounds that there was no order in the House.

Deputy leader of BJP in Rajya Sabha S S Ahluwalia indicated that smooth conduct of the House tomorrow and in the subsequent days may not be possible if the government does not relent to this demand.

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“On December 29,the Rajya Sabha was adjourned abruptly at 12 PM and the government maintained that there were so many amendments moved by the members and it would have to go through them…. I can show you several precedents where the House has continued to function till it completes its business,” Ahluwalia said.

He insisted that the BJP wants the discussions to be completed and would pose a question to the government as to why this should not be done.

“On January 5,a delegation of BJP MPs had met the President to demand that the Lokpal Bill debate be completed in Rajya Sabha,” Ahluwalia said.

He charged that the government had committed a “foul” on December 29 and cannot commit “another foul now” by evading completion of the debate.

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Asked if the BJP is also trying to get on board other opposition parties on the Lokpal Bill,he said,”The unity is there. It has not been broken.”

Later Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee,the chief trouble-shooter of the government,met BJP leaders Jaitley,his Lok Sabha counterpart Sushma Swaraj,L K Advani and Yashwant Sinha.

Other than support for its pending bills,the government wants opposition not to force too many disruptions and cooperate in smooth conduct of business.