NEW DELHI, December 17: The non-issuance of invitation to BSP to the all party meeting that Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari held on Monday for the smooth passage of the Lokpal Bill on Tuesday 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 BSP which made it a point to protest its exclusion as that had created a wrong impression about the party which had always supported the Lokpal Bill.
BSP leader Satish Chandra Mishra took exception to his party’s exclusion from the list of invitees for the all party meeting and sought a clarification from the government. He said the record had to be set straight as a wrong impression had been created in the media that the party had boycotted it.
There was no question of boycotting the meeting and the impression created had caused harm to party chief Mayawati, Mr. Mishra stressed.
The Parliamentary Affairs Minister clarified that he had himself received the invitation in the nick of the time and that even CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury had not been informed well in time.
Mr. Nath said the invitation had been sent by the Rajya Sabha secretariat and it was due to a communication gap that the BSP was not invited to the meeting.
Prof. Kurien too attributed the lapse to communication gap and stressed that it was not deliberate.
