Lokpal farce: Politicians play dirty, RS adjourned

Rajya Sabha chairperson Hamid Ansari at the stroke of midnight said, "An unprecedented situation has arisen. There appears to be a desire to outshout each other. There is a total impasse. The house cannot be conducted in this house. I'm afraid the chair has no option, the house reluctantly...."

"If this is how the Rajya Sabha is going to behave, I believe we better go home," he said, before calling for the national song to be played.

"House is adjourned adjourned sine dine," he concluded.
 

Leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said the government was running away from house because it was in "hopeless minority".

Jaitley accused "the minority government" of choreographing the debate to delay the bill.

Appealing to the chairperson to extend the session past midnight, Jaitley said that it was for the house to decide how long it would sit, and not the government.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said the the government was committed to fighting corruption and blamed the delay in debate on the opposition.

Bansal said that the Lokpal had to be well-considered.  if we are true the cause, the govt responded to the oppositon , accepted amendments

We will consider amendments.

The upper house was adjourned for 15 minutes on Thursday night after politicians created a ruckus against the Lokpal bill.

RJD minister Rajniti Prasad tore a copy of the Lokpal bill as Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narayanaswamy was speaking. The papers were flung into the well of the house.

The Samajwadi Party declared that the majority of the house felt that the Lokpal was useless.

Earlier, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla said that the members of the Rajya Sabha will finish with the Lokpal Bill debate before midnight and won't ask for extension.

The Rajya Sabha cannot function beyond midnight.

Earlier, Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan said that the PM, as an elected representative shouldn't come under the Lokpal.

Bansal objected to Chandan Mitra's allegations that all Congress Prime Ministers barring Shastri had graft charges against them.

Mitra also alleged that the CBI didn't act on 2G case for 2 years.
 

Pranab Mukherjee, in a bid to get regional parties aboard, offered to remove the Lok Ayukta word and clauses from the the bill on Thursday.

Mukherjee met BSP leader SC Mishra earlier.

The opposition today proposed a total of 187 amendments to the Lokpal Bill in Rajya Sabha.

Mukul Roy, TMC's representative in the Rajya Sabha has called for deletion of the Lok Ayukta clause. The BJP has expressed support for the TMC on its amendment on the removal of the Lok Ayukta clause. The UPA does not enjoy a majority in the Upper House.

If there is consensus, the government will move the amendment.

The DMK called for passing the bill for now and looking at amendments later.

Moving a step further towards enactment of a historic law for setting up Lokpal, the government tabled a bill to this effect in the Rajya Sabha, but it was rejected by the opposition as "constitutionally vulnerable".

The Lokpal and Lok Ayuktas Bill, 2011, already passed by Lok Sabha, was moved for consideration by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Narayanasamy amid questions over its passage in view of stiff opposition by various parties, including UPA ally Trinamool Congress.

Pushing for passage of the crucial bill, Narayanasamy said it "is in line with the sense of the house" expressed on August 27.

Initiating the debate, leader of opposition Arun Jaitley slammed the bill saying it would lead to "constitutional havoc" as the Centre would be encouraged to "usurp" rights of states through the provision of setting up of Lok Ayuktas.

The BJP leader and noted lawyer also opposed minority quota in the Lokpal bench, inclusion of NGOs and keeping CBI out of the purview of the ombudsman.

"If you are creating history, let us not create bad history. We will be leaving a lot of task for the next generation to do," he said.

He made it clear the the BJP would not support the bill in the present form. "Please accept amendments that the colleagues have moved," he said.

Abhishek M Singhvi (Cong) rejected Jaitley's contentions, saying said the BJP was creating fear psychosis over the issue of NGOs under the purview of the ombudsman.

Seeking to drive a wedge between the UPA coalition partners, Jaitley encouraged Trinamool Congress by saying that its opposition to various provisions of the bill was correct.

Holding that one does not have to demolish federalism in the fight against corruption, he said, "That is why the Trinamool Congress is right."

BSP member SC Mishra also criticised the bill for keeping CBI under government control and said the agency is used to settle political scores. He claimed that cases against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSP supremo Mayawati were an example of such misuse.

Mishra appeared to attack Rahul Gandhi when he said that a Congress leader goes to Uttar Pradesh and says that "we (Centre) have sent money...Is it your (Centre's) property? It is our money."

He said the reservation for minorities in the Lokpal bench and search committee was done under pressure as the Congress treats minorities only as "vote-minting machine".

Amidst protest from Congress members, he said it was a "day of misery" for the ruling dispensation and counseled them to listen patiently to the criticism.

During the debate, which saw exchange of barbs between Jaitley and Singhvi, the Congress member rejected opposition's stand on reservation, saying the bill does not have any provision for quota and only talks about ensuring representation from diverse sections of the society.

He accused the BJP of giving an "advanced prematured certificate of unconstitutionality".

He said the Lokpal bill does not cover all private trusts but only those, which receive public donations above a certain amount.

Strongly batting for constitutional status to Lokpal, Singhvi attacked BJP saying it was opposing the bill only for the sake of it.

He told Jaitley that his argument that the bill was a constitutional cocktail does not have any punch.

Rejecting charges of assault on federalism, the Congress MP said Parliament has the power to make laws for whole of the country or for any part.

He said the bill for the first time separates prosecution and investigative powers, abolishes the practice of seeking sanctions before prosecution of public servants and gives Lokpal greater control of CBI even though it does not bring the agency directly under the Lokpal.

Holding that the Government's approach is that of favouring mutual checks and balances, Singhvi said it wanted to maintain equilibrium of the holy trinity of the legislature, the executive and the judiciary.

Asking the opposition to be honest in its conviction, the he accused it of using conditionalities and excuses to avoid supporting the bill.

Criticising the opposition's suggestions on Lokpal, Singhvi said their idea is to create a behemoth before which even the prime minister and his office will look like "pygmies" and also create a breeding ground for "big ticket corruption".

He said BJP's opposition to the bill was just to score browny points with an eye on the forthcoming assembly polls.

The Congress leader vehemently denied that the bill marks any deviation from the sense of the house on Lokpal issue to which the government had agreed in the Monsoon Session.

Urging the opposition to support the government on the issue, he said "history will not forgive you (opposition)" if they do not support the bill.

Singhvi said a slew of anti-corruption legislations have been made during the the UPA regime.