New Delhi, The government on Wednesday claimed that political parties were in the know of the move to refer the Lokpal bill to a select committee and that leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley was consulted on its composition. "The committee was drawn up after consultation," parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Bansal said. The government claimed that there might have been a gap in communication within BJP as party MPs protested the move while Jaitley sat without intervening. Jaitley contested the government's suggestion that he was on board, saying that he had only been informed about the move to refer the bill to a select committee. "I was not consulted, the ministers merely told me about the government's plan," he said. He also said that when Bansal met him, he had told the minister that he intended to "raise objections with relation to the incompetent amendment to refer the bill to a select committee". He pointed out that in the House, he had asked the government to be upfront about its intent rather than getting a Samajwadi Party MP to move the amendment. Speaking to the media, Bansal said all parties were consulted over the composition of the ...
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New Delhi, With the government sending the controversial Lokpal Bill to a Rajya Sabha select committee for further scrutiny and discussion on Monday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has accused the former of not being sincere in its efforts to pass anti-graft proposal. "This has become quiet clear, that the intentions of the government over bringing the Ombudsman (Bill) were not correct since the very beginning. The government has once again exposed its corrupt face protecting corrupt people," Naqvi told media here. Expressing displeasure over sending the bill to a select committee, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said: "Any search proposal for select committee can come only and only by the minister in charge who is in possession of the entire proposal. It could not have come from anyone else." "This kind of procedure was most unwarranted. We deeply regret it, and also condemn it. The present consideration is also permissible in terms of Article 252 of the Constitution, where such considerations are permissible only when two state assemblies empower the Rajya Sabha to consider such a proposal," he added. Communist Party of India (CPI) ...
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New Delhi, Asserting that the Central Government is not serious about passing a strong Lokpal Bill, social activist Arvind Kejriwal has said Team Anna would decide its future course of action after the budget session of parliament ends. "We are waiting for the parliament session to get over. Our future strategy and agitation will be announced after that," Kejriwal told media here. "We do doubt their (government) intentions. When the budget session was so big then why did they not get the bill earlier? Why on the last day? They could have got it 15-30 days earlier, so defiantly there is a doubt over their intentions," he added. Earlier, former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and Team Anna member Kiran Bedi has said the Central Government is not serious about endorsing an effective Lokpal Bill, since it would be like sounding the death knell for corrupt politicians. "The Lokpal Bill is a very tough law for people who are corrupt and they also happen to be in power. They also know that there is enough proof against them. It will be very difficult for them as they will be investigated and like former telecom minister A Raja they will go to jail because whistleblowers ...
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New Delhi, With the Budget session set to conclude on Tuesday, the much-debated Lokpal Bill, instead of being brought in the Rajya Sabha, could be referred to a Joint Select Committee amid lack of consensus on its key provisions. "A decision will be taken tomorrow", a Union minister involved in the process said when asked whether the bill would go to a Joint Select Committee or Select Committee. When a Bill comes up before a House for discussion, it may be referred to a Select Committee of the House or a Joint Committee of the two Houses. The Select or the Joint Select Committee considers the Bill clause by clause just as the two Houses do. A senior Congress leader, who declined to be identified, said the possibility of the bill being referred to a Joint Select Committee, cannot be ruled out. Reports said that in the absence of consensus on key provisions of the legislation including the one dealing with Lokpal's superintendence over CBI appears to be deterring the government from bringing the bill in the Rajya Sabha this week. The bill has already been passed by the Lok Sabha. Uncertainty hung over the bill coming up in the Upper House in the current session with ...
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Ahmedabad/ Ghaziabad, Former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and Team Anna member Kiran Bedi has said the Central Government is not serious about endorsing an effective Lokpal Bill, since it would be like sounding the death knell for corrupt politicians. "The Lokpal Bill is a very tough law for people who are corrupt and they also happen to be in power. They also know that there is enough proof against them. It will be very difficult for them as they will be investigated and like former telecom minister A Raja they will go to jail because whistleblowers will gather enough proof against them. So this will not be enacted easily," Bedi told media here. "It will be enacted when all of us stand together with Anna Hazare because these politicians count the number of people," she added. Echoing similar sentiment, Team Anna member Manish Sisodia has said that an effective and strong Lokpal Bill couldn't be expected from a cabinet that has corrupt ministers. "How can a country hope for a tough anti-graft law from a cabinet which has 16 ministers who have charges of corruption against them? We have absolutely no hope from this cabinet," said Sisodia. He also said that ...
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New York, Former US President Bill Clinton dubbed Barack Obama "incompetent" and pressed wife Hillary to quit her job as secretary of state to challenge the incumbent president in the primaries, a new book has claimed. "The country needs you!" the former president had told Hillary Clinton, urging her to run this year, according to accounts of the conversation included in Edward Klein's new biography of Obama. Obama, Bill Clinton had said, according to excerpts, "doesn't know how to be president" and is "incompetent". The title of Klein's explosive , unauthorized biography of Obama, 'The Amateur' , was taken directly from Bill Clinton's bombshell criticism of the president, the author said. "Barack Obama," Clinton said, "is an amateur." The withering criticism is incredible , given the fact that Bill Clinton is actively campaigning for Obama's re-election , the New York Post said. According to the book, Bill Clinton unloaded on Obama and pressed Hillary to run against her boss during a gathering in the ex-president's home office in Chappaqua last August that included longtime friends. "The economy's a mess, it's dead flat. America has lost its Triple-A rating . ...
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New Delhi, Veteran social activist Anna Hazare on Friday urged the Congress-led UPA government to bring a strong and effective Lokpal Bill. He said that the Lokpal Bill that the government is trying to bring out will not be 'effective' in putting a 'brake' on corruption. "The Lokpal Bill of the government will not be effective at all. It will fail to put a brake on corruption," he said. Hazare said that he will sit on fast at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar on March 25 for a strong and effective Lokpal Bill. The Gandhian activist urged the government to bring out the bill before Lok Sabha elections in 2014, else he will start a strong agitation in demand for it. "The government has already seen the results in the five states where results of the Assembly polls were declared. If they do not bring a strong Lokpal Bill by 2014 then the result in 2014 elections will also be bad," Hazare said. Meanwhile, an all party meeting of the Rajya Sabha members that was called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his residence on Friday ended without reaching any consensus on the Lokpal Bill issue. The PM met the Rajya Sabha members at his residence for over an hour since 12 noon ...
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New Delhi, The BJP is all set to corner the government over the Lokpal Bill in Rajya Sabha with Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley to seek suspension of question hour to discuss the anti-graft legislation. According to Times Now, Arun Jaitley will raise the issue in the Upper House under Rule 257, which will allow the opposition to question the fiasco in the last session. The government had on Monday said that it will pursue the contentious Lokpal bill in the budget session of Parliament. The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha during the winter session last year but got stuck in the Rajya Sabha, where the United Progressive Alliance government is short on numbers. ...
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Oslo, A total of 231 nominees are up for the Nobel Peace Prize this year, the Nobel Institute said on Monday, with Bill Clinton, Helmut Kohl, the EU and US soldier and Bradley Manning on the list. "As always, there are the usual nominees and some newcomers, some famous and some unknowns, hailing from the four corners of the world," the head of the Nobel Institute, Geir Lundestad, said. With 188 individuals and 43 organizations, the number comes close to last year's record of 241. Among the people known to have been nominated this year are former United States president Bill Clinton, ex-German chancellor Helmut Kohl who led his country's reunification process , and Ukraine's ex-premier and now jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko . Also on the list is jailed American soldier Manning, charged with 22 counts for turning over a massive cache of classified US documents to WikiLeaks. Despite its current crisis the European Union is also among the candidates ...
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Varanasi, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Monday said he wasn't running for the prime minister's post and his job was to stay connected with people. "Rahul Gandhi's obsession is not to be PM. Rahul Gandhi's obsession is to work for the people," the Congress general secretary told reporters on the last day of campaigning for the first of the seven-phased Uttar Pradesh polls due to begin Wednesday. Without naming him, the Gandhi scion hit out at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran L.K. Advani saying some senior politicians were obsessed with prime ministership. He, however, said Advani was committing the "crime" of promising something to people that he won't be able to deliver. "He (Advani) is not listening to the people. He is trying to tell people that he will do something that he won't. But I don't do that," Gandhi said. He accused the BJP leader of scuttling the Lokpal bill in parliament. "Giving constitutional status to the Lokpal was India's idea," Gandhi said, alleging that the BJP opposed it thinking that this was Congress's ...
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New Delhi, After Uttarakhand, Team Anna would launch a multi-city campaign in Uttar Pradesh from Thursday creating awareness about a strong Lokpal Bill but stay away from directly targeting any one political party. Arvind Kejriwal would not be part of the campaign as he is accompanying Anna Hazare for treatment to Bangalore. Team Anna would largely consist of Prashant Bhushan, Manish Sisodia, Kiran Bedi and Kumar Vishwas. Sisodia said, "We are going to constituencies as per the election schedule. I will be in UP throughout, while others could join the campaign at different places." On Thursday, Team Anna will campaign at Mahadev Talab Maidan in Fatehpur of Barabanki and in Ramlila Maidan in Gonda. Subsequent meetings have been planned in Faizabad, Basti, Varanasi and Allahabad. Ahead of the assembly polls, Team Anna had written a series of letters to leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi and BJP president Nitin Gadkari raising questions about the Lokpal Bill. Letter was also sent to UP chief minister Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. While in the letter to the PM, he was asked to show some courage to withdraw the ...
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New Delhi, Still nursing the sting of ally Trinamool Congress opposing the Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha citing issues of federal autonomy, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government wants to take the states into confidence on Sonia Gandhi's dream project - the National Food Security Bill, 2011. The bill was tabled in the Lok Sabha during the winter session of parliament last year and will now go to the standing committee concerned. If the panel's report is submitted in the budget session, likely to start mid-March, the bill could be taken up for consideration and passage in the same session. Keeping that in mind and the reservations of states like Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh against the bill, the government is planning a meet with state food ministers in mid-February to bring them on board. "We have requested Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to address the meet," a food ministry official said. Sources said though the food ministry consulted the states before it tabled the bill in parliament, issues related to procurement of grain to meet the requirements of the bill would be taken up at the meet. More importantly, the meet will focus on ...
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New Delhi, The Minister of State in the Prime Minister''s Office, V. Narayanasamy, today blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the failure of the passage of the anti-graft bill. "The opposition created uproar in the Parliament and disrupted the proceedings and they are now blaming the government and the Congress Party. This move is not at all right as it shows BJP''s double standards," said Narayanasamy. "As a Minister, after so many lawmakers spoke in the Parliament, I have a right to reply to their questions. Why did they stop me? Why did they not allow me to speak? This was all pre-planned by the BJP," he added. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) lawmaker Rajniti Prasad had expressed disappointment with the government''s version of the Lokpal and tore the anti-graft bill in the House last night. Prasad snatched the Bill from the hands of V. Narayanasamy while he was making his speech on the Lokpal Bill in the House. The Lokpal Bill failed to get Parliament''s nod when Rajya Sabha was on Thursday night adjourned sine die abruptly amidst high drama and the Opposition accusing the government of running away from a vote because it was in a ...
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New Delhi, A day after the Lokpal Bill fiasco in Rajya Sabha that was blamed largely on the Congress, the ruling party and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) traded charges against each other on Friday for putting the anti-corruption ombudsman law in indefinite suspension. Congress Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal told a press conference: "It's a pain to hear, none other than the Leader of Opposition blamed that debate was choreographed by the government and that it was the murder of democracy." "I level this charge on them," said Bansal. Bansal said the Opposition did not want the Bill to be passed in the first place. He said if the amendments, numbering 187, were accepted then Parliament would have been rendered into a laughing stock. His party colleague and Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid said he was disappointed (indicating even the stance of ally Trinamool Congress at a much later stage demanding amendment on Lokayukta clause) but in a move to not ruffle Trinamool Congress further said the point Mamata Banerjee's party raised is a "legitimate concern." BJP president Nitin Gadkari went ballistic. He said the United Progressive ...
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New Delhi, The Congress did not have majority support in the Rajya Sabha to pass the Lokpal bill but it hoped for a miracle. But as night fell Thursday, its troubleshooters realised the grim truth that the bill would not get past a belligerent opposition. Through the day, as an animated and at times stormy debate raged in the packed upper house, there was intense speculation that the Congress might somehow -- just somehow -- cobble the numbers. By noon, intense backroom negotiations were on between Congress strategists and members of political parties who the government believed could be won over. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal did not want another embarrassment after the Tuesday fiasco in the Lok Sabha over moves to give the Lokpal constitutional status -- a Rahul Gandhi dream. During the day Thursday, Mukherjee and Bansal met separately and together Satish Misra, the parliamentary face of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and Mukul Roy of the Trinamool Congress, an ally which has more than once tripped the Congress-led government in recent times. IANS spotted Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad enter ...
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New Delhi, The government Thursday decided not to press for passage of Lokpal bill in Rajya Sabha after it realised that it had not been able to muster requisite numbers and wanting to avert a defeat ahead of the forthcoming assembly polls, Congress sources said. The sources said efforts of party leaders to convince its ally Trinamool Congress to back the bill, passed by the Lok Sabha Tuesday, had not yielded results and Bahujan Samajwadi Party Samajwadi Party also decided against staging a walk-out and helping the government. The sources said a defeat on the bill in the Rajya Sabha would not have done any good to the Congress-led government's image ahead of crucial polls to five states. Meanwhile, a Samajwadi Party leader told IANS that the party would have supported the bill if the government had dropped the clause concerning Lokayukta. "Otherwise we would have voted against the bill," he said. Congress sources said that the government did not want to face division when it was not sure of its numbers. They said the party had suffered an embarrassment in the Lok Sabha by failing to get constitutional status to Lokpal and did not want to face another defeat in the ...
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New Delhi, A day after the government faced embarrassment in Lok Sabha following the defeat of Constitution (116th Amendment) Bill on the Lokpal, the Congress-led UPA Government faced another debacle when the Rajya Sabha was today adjourned sine die amidst chaos. The government was not able to put up its stand on the anti-graft legislation, as a united opposition cornered the government on issues concerning several amendments. Due to the constant threat of veteran social activist Anna Hazare, the brief Winter Session of Parliament was extended for three days to discuss the contentious issue of Lokpal. However, the extended session was slated to conclude on December 29. The House was earlier adjourned for 15 minutes following uproar after Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) lawmaker Rajniti Prasad expressing disappointment with the government''''''''s version of the Lokpal tore the anti-graft bill in the House. Prasad snatched the Bill from the hands of Minister of State in the Prime Minister''''''''s Office (PMO) V. Narayanswami while debating the Lokpal Bill in the House. Reiterating the government''''''''s stand to bring in an effective Lokpal Bill, Parliamentary Affairs ...
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New Delhi, Calling the Centre''s Lokpal Bill a ''weak and ineffective'' legislation, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday urged the Government to amend contentious issues in the anti-graft bill. "We want an effective Ombudsman. We feel that the Bill in the present form as passed by the Lok Sabha has many shortcomings. We only hope and wish the government will show a large heart by making the CBI autonomous, not violating the rights of the state-federal principle and the most important, a real effective instrument also to the Lokpal," Prasad told the media here. Meanwhile, BJP national vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi lashed out at the government for its perceived hesitancy and failure in tackling the menace of corruption. "They first propose the issues of foreign direct investment and Ombudsman Bill and then dispose them by bringing up reservations. So, it is clear that the sole motive of the government is to ensure that a strong and effective Lokpal Bill is never formulated and passed," Naqvi said. "They want to create a weak Lokpal, which will not address the concerns of the people. The BJP feels that an Ombudsman must have ...
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New Delhi, MoS for Parliamentary Affairs V Narayanasamy today moved the historic Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha providing for setting up a Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayukta in the states to investigate corruption cases in the country. Piloting the historic Bill, cleared by the Lok Sabha on December 27, the Minister noted that the Bill had taken 40 years to be tabled in this form, recalling that the Administrative Reforms Committee had recommended setting up a Lokpal in 1966. Since then eight Bills were introduced in the Lok Sabha of which seven had lapsed, he said. In January 2011, the Group of Ministers under the chairmanship of Pranab Mukherjee was constituted with the mandate to go into the issue. The mandate of the Bill covered among others electoral reforms, constitution of courts and open procurement ...
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New Delhi, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday lambasted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the failure of the constitutional amendment over the Lokpal Bill in the Lok Sabha, saying the incident exposed the main opposition party’s duplicity. “The BJP had actually committed for constitutional status for the Lokpal Bill in the standing committee and yesterday they voted against it and denied constitutional status,” Gandhi, the chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition said. “Yesterday we have seen the real face of the BJP...we wanted to give a solid Lokpal Bill but they refused," she said. The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday is expected to take up the Lokpal Bill after it was passed by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, though the fate of the long-awaited anti-graft law appeared largely uncertain over burgeoning dissent among lawmakers. Some reports said that the bill might be taken up on Thursday. Questions were raised on how an increasingly isolated government would ensure that its draft of the Lokpal Bill, which has been widely criticised as weak, sails smoothly in the upper house, after MPs in the lower house appeared far from a ...
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