All-party meet on Lokpal ends sans consensus

The all-party meeting on the Lokpal bill on Sunday ended without a consensus, and reports said another similar meeting on the proposed anti-corruption law would be held soon.

The meeting was meant to gather feedback from different parties on the bill. A largely united opposition slammed the government's handling of the bill, but said they could not give any serious feedback till the government presents them with an actual draft.

The BJP's Sushma Swaraj said, "We did not discuss specific provisions of the bill in today's meeting. We clearly said we want a strong Lokpal. The government should bring a bill and send it to the standing committee so that all the parties can give their points of view.''

After the meeting, TDP leader Nama Nageswara Rao said that the prime minister should be brought under the bill. "The government has delayed the Lokpal bill. The prime minister must be included and judicial accounts bill need to be included," he said.

A one-line resolution was passed at the meeting saying that there should be a strong Lokpal bill, which the government should bring before the next session of Parliament following the established procedures.

Although the BJP said that they are in favour of a strong bill, the party remained silent on the issue of whether the prime minister should be brought under the ambit of the bill.
 
The BJP also raised serious objections to several elements in the draft bill prepared by the ministers. The BJP told the prime minister that all clauses regarding who appoints Lokpal, who is eligible to serve as part of the Lokpal and who can remove the Lokpal are unacceptable.