NEW DELHI, December 17: Ending disruption, the Samajwadi Party on Tuesday spelt out its opposition to the Lokpal Bill and staged a boycott, paving the way for its passage in the Rajya Sabha.
Earlier in the day, Chairman Hamid Ansari accepted Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley’s notice for suspension of question hour and called for resumption of the discussion on the Bill. But SP leader Naresh Agrawal opposed it, demanding that the Chair take up other notices too and that the issue of price rise be given preference. When party members trooped into the well, the House was adjourned till noon.
When it resumed, SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav spelt out the reasons for his party’s opposition to the Bill. He said only the Lokpal would be considered honest and all others, right from the Prime Minister to MPs and the Cabinet Secretary to those down the rank would be made to look like the accused.
He warned that any MP could be hauled up by his rival in the MPLAD (Member of Parliament Local Area Development) Scheme and sent to jail. No one could stop this from happening. He would be proved right one day.
“Unacceptable”
Mr. Yadav said it was unacceptable that the Prime Minister should depose before a Superintendent of Police or a Deputy Secretary rank officer, merely because someone had filed a complaint. “Even if one is proved innocent, a bad impression will be created about the person.”
Emphasising that the Prime Minister might be required to take immediate decisions at times, Mr. Yadav demanded that the government reconsider its decision on the Lokpal Bill. And refusing to be part of the deliberations, he led a walkout by his party members.
Apparently, the SP was won over during the adjournment to pave the way for a discussion on the Bill, with the Chairman insisting on order for passage of the law.
The party which made the most of the SP’s absence was its arch-rival, the BSP, whose leader Satish Chandra Mishra took a dig at the Uttar Pradesh government, charging that there was no law and order in the State.
As he shifted focus to deaths of children in relief camps for Muzaffarnagar riot victims and called for a discussion, members said he was free to take advantage of the fact that SP members were not in the House. Mr. Mishra shot back, saying he would have liked their presence so that they could have heard his speech.
Communication gap keeps BSP out of meet
Non-issuance of an invitation to the Bahujan Samaj Party to Monday’s all-party meeting held by Mr. Ansari for smooth passage of the Bill was attributed to a communication gap at the level of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat.
Both Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath assuaged the feelings of the protesting BSP, whose leader Satish Chandra Mishra demanded that the record be set straight as a wrong impression had been created in the media that the party had boycotted the meeting, thus harming its chief Mayawati’s reputation. The fact remained that the party always supported the Bill, he pointed out.
Mr. Kamal Nath said he himself had received the invitation in the nick of time and that even CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury had not been informed well in time.
Prof. Kurien also stressed that not sending an invitation to the BSP was not deliberate.
