Putting up a brave front after it failed to muster the numbers in the Rajya Sabha, the government on Friday said the Lokpal Bill will 'definitely' be brought before the Rajya Sabha during the Budget session even as Congress leader Digvijay Singh defended the move saying extension of the House last night was not possible.
"Definitely we will bring it in March in the Budget session... we have to study the 187 amendments brought by Opposition parties as most are overlapping. Some amendments relate to only a part of a clause and not the entire clause, some demand removing the entire part of the Bill," Minister of State for Personnel V Narayanasamy said here.
He said after going through the amendments, the government will take a call on what to accept and what to reject and get back to the Opposition parties.
He said after going through the amendments, the Cabinet will take a call on what to accept and what to reject and get back to Opposition parties.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bil, 2011 was 'alive' and will remain on the Rajya Sabha register.
"It will be cleared in the Budget session," he said.
He said several of the amendments were contradictory to each other and government wanted time to go through them.
Law Minister Salman Khurshid said 'excess amendments and excess talking' led to the situation in the upper house.
Khurshid said 187 amendments would have 'totally changed the structure of the Bill'.