The Congress’ tirade against the BJP over the Lokpal bill fiasco continued on Saturday. Union home minister P. Chidambaram, who was in Mumbai, said that BJP’s intention was to scuttle the bill in the Rajya Sabha.
However, he said that the government saved the bill and now it can be passed in the Budget Session of Parliament with one or two amendments.
The home minister also urged social activist Anna Hazare, whom many Congress leaders have accused of being the agent of the RSS, to take note of the BJP’s opposition to the Lokayukta chapter of the bill.
“Civil society had demanded a Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas at the state level. I hope that Mr Hazare recognises that the BJP is opposing the Lokayukta chapter of the bill. Common man is directly affected by corruption at the local level, which comes under the state’s purview,” he said.
Home minister P. Chidambaram admitted that the government may have to accept one or two amendments to get the bill passed in both the Houses during the Budget Session.
“From now, till the budget session, we can discuss the issue with allies as well as the Opposition parties to see what can be accepted,” he said.
Defending the deferment of the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill, 2011 in the Rajya Sabha on December 29, Mr Chidambaram said that it was the “only prudent course” before the government.
“The BJP did not want to start discussion on the bill on December 28. On December 29, when the discussion on the bill was started, the Opposition and other parties introduced 187 amendments. The last set of amendments was introduced at 6 pm. Can anyone make sense of 187 amendments in such a short span of time? I have never come across a situation where a bill is passed in one House with a few amendments and it gets stuck in another House because the same parties now want 187 amendments,” Mr Chidambaram said.
“It was pretty clear that BJP’s intention was to scuttle the bill in the Rajya Sabha. It is common knowledge that the ruling party did not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha. Even if the government would have accepted the amendments on that day, the bill would not have become the law as the amended bill was needed to be taken back to the Lok Sabha, which was already adjourned sine die,” Mr Chidambaram added.