Lok Sabha shatters Rahul's dream, as Rajya Sabha did his father's

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's idea of conferring a constitutional status to the Lokpal failed to carry conviction in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday night, much like his father Rajiv Gandhi's Panchayati Raj Bill 22 years ago.

The Constitution (116th Amendment) Bill was defeated in the Lok Sabha by a determined Opposition, helped by the absence of parties supporting the government from outside like the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

It was a repeat of the scenes in Rajya Sabha in 1989 when the Opposition combined to defeat the statute amendment bill to confer Constitutional status to Panchayat Raj institutions.

Soon after, the late prime minister dissolved the Lok Sabha and went in for elections which his party lost.

But a bill to confer Constitutional status to panchayati raj institutions was passed after the Congress returned to power in 1991.