Lokpal bill must be passed in monsoon session: BJP

Dubbing the United Progressive Alliance at the Centre as "the most corrupt government ever seen by independent India", senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Saturday wanted the Lokpal bill to be passed in the next session of Parliament itself.

Addressing BJP's election rallies in Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur, Advani said he had conveyed his party's stand on the Lokpal Bill to Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

The government had conceded to introduce the bill following unprecedented support received by the campaign launched by anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare across the country," he said.

"We want not just introduction of the bill but making it sure that it would be passed in the coming session itself, for which the party would extend support," he said.

If the bill had to be sent to the standing committee of Parliament, BJP would see that the panel submitted its report without delay so as to enable its passage in the same session, Advani said.

The BJP leader said bringing in the Lokpaal Bill by the government was the "second bonus" clinched by opposition parties, the first being the constitution of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G spectrum scam.

Attacking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Advani said he was presiding over the most corrupt government India had ever seen.

"Manmohan Singh had a good image before he became the Prime Minister. I am sorry to say that he is now presiding over the most corrupt government the country has seen," Advani said.

"If unprecedented price rise was the highlight of the UPA government in 2010, in 2011 its hallmark is huge scams like 2G spectrum corruption, Adarsh Housing scam and irregularities in the conduct of Commonwealth Games," he said.

Referring to the situation in Kerala, Advani said the UDF and the LDF alternating in power had made both the coalitions to neglect people's problems and development of the state.

He appealed to the voters to make BJP open its account in the Assembly so that the real issues of the state could be taken up effectively.

Meanwhile, promising support for the Lokpal bill in the monsoon session of Parliament, BJP chief Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said the party welcomed the campaign against corruption by social activist Anna Hazare.

"We will support that (Lokpal) bill... BJP wants a corruption-free India and we welcome the efforts by him (Anna Hazare)," Gadkari told a CII seminar in New Delhi.

Asked whether Hazare had taken the sheen away from the BJP, he said, "I don't feel so. I don't look at it with a political view point. Our party's policy is to appreciate the good work done by any one."