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Trinamool Congress refuses to budge from its stand on Lokpal Bill

-The Economic Times

 

The Trinamool Congress on Sunday reiterated that its support for the Lokpal bill will be contingent upon the removal of the Lokayukta provision from the proposed legislation.

"Trinamool Congress is not going to compromise on the federal structure of the Constitution and amendments put forward by the party have to be accepted," Trinamool Congress general secretary Mukul Roy said. He was reacting to a statement of home minister P Chidambaram in Mumbai on Saturday that Trinamool's demand for the total deletion of the Lokayukta provision may not be easy and that the government would be able to accept one or two amendments.

The Trinamool Congress leader said the party's representative in the Union government, railway minister Dinesh Trivedi, had raised the issue in the Cabinet meeting that cleared the bill on December 21. He had told the meeting that the bill should be sent to the standing committee once again as the inclusion of Lokayukta has "changed the entire character" of the bill.

Roy, who rejected the charge that the Trinamool had changed its position on the bill in the Rajya Sabha after helping its passage in the Lok Sabha, said there was an understanding with the government that his party's suggestions would be factored in. "The government went against this assurance. Mamata Banerjee's views were shared by other chief ministers of the country.

That the Trinamool Congress will come in the way of the Congress' efforts to pass the blame for the crisis on to the Opposition, particularly the BJP, Roy said the way the government handled the issue in the Rajya Sabha was "shameful". He said the government should have allowed the bill to be voted on the Rajya Sabha instead of "subverting" parliamentary procedure.

It was the tough stand taken by the Trinamool Congress that forced the government to call off voting on the bill. The Trinamool Congress' strident opposition to the Bill saw the SP and the BSP- two parties that provided indirect assistance to the government by staging a walk out before the bill was put to vote in the Lok Sabha - moving in to the Opposition camp.

Government leaders here said a forward movement on the bill will be possible only after the elections to the Uttar Pradesh assembly. "One of the two UP parties - SP or BSP - will have to do business with us after the state elections. In the event of the SP forming a government in Lucknow with the support of the Congress, its 23 MPs will firmly back our policies. Even an adverse verdict for SP will leave it with little option but to help us at the Centre," said a Congress leader.

Incidentally, the Centre is hoping for the state election outcome to cushion the government from Mamata Banerjee's tantrums. "The government could take up other policy issues stalled by Mamata Banerjee after the election," said the Congress leader.