-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...

Bowing to the demand of the Opposition parties who charged the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government with trying to disturb the federal structure and encroach upon the powers of the State governments, the Lokpal and the Lokayuktas Bill, 2011 was amended in the Lok Sabha to allow the States to have their say in notifying the Lokayuktas. Yet another amendment relates to applicability of the provisions of the anti-graft legislation to...

High drama in Lok Sabha; BJP not helping to strengthen Lokpal, says Pranab; Opposition terms Bill “weak” The Lok Sabha on Tuesday night passed a historic Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011, but defeated a parallel Constitution (116th Amendment) Bill, which would have given the Lokpal constitutional status. In a major embarrassment to the UPA government, Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee admitted that the government did not have the requisite two-thirds majority...

It is quite apparent that the gulf between the government and Team Anna on the Lokpal Bill is unlikely to be bridged. Whatever Amendments the government may move, the final result will be considered inferior by the man from Ralegan Siddhi and his followers. This is not a wholly unanticipated development. On Tuesday, the lines of division in Parliament were clear. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other opposition parties have...

-Express News Service   The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011 was passed in the Lok Sabha with several Amendments but the opposition BJP remained far from satisfied. The legislation now faces an uncertain fate in the Rajya Sabha where the UPA is in minority. Under attack from the opposition and allies like the DMK and Trinamool Congress over the inclusion of Lokayuktas in the bill — what they called an assault on India’s...