BJP slams UPA for delay in Lokpal Bill

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday targeted the United Progressive Alliance government over delay in bringing Lokpal Bill before the Rajya Sabha as the winter session is inching towards its end and demanded a reply.

The government has remained non-committal on a timeline.

"The report of the Select Committee (of Rajya Sabha) has come. It is being studied. We will bring it as soon as possible," was the brief response of Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla as BJP leader Ravishankar Prasad demanded his response on the issue.

Raising it in the noon, Prasad said that since only 3-4 days are now left for the session to conclude, government should tell when it planned to bring the bill before the Rajya Sabha as the Select Committee of the Upper House to which it was referred has already finalised its recommendations.

Lok Sabha had passed the Lokpal Bill during the Winter Session last year itself with amendments by voice vote with the Left parties, SP and BSP walking out in protest before the voting. This has been one of the most hotly debated bills both inside and outside Parliament in recent times.

The bill, however, could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha in view of sharp divide over some of its provisions including on creation Lokayuktas in states. It was referred to a Select Committee, whose recommendations were tabled in the House last month. The panel recommended among other things delinking of creation of Lokayuktas in states from the central bill.

As BJP members rose to target the government over the issue, Shukla retorted, "We had got it passed in the Lok Sabha. It is you, who obstructed it here (in Rajya Sabha)."