New Delhi:
The all-party meeting to discuss the Lokpal Bill may have failed to arrive at a consensus, but the government still hopes to bring the draft bill in the Monsoon Session of Parliament.
The government's stand was reiterated by the Group of Ministers, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal, as they addressed the media today.
At the press conference, Mr Chidambaram said, "There was an all-party meet yesterday. Apart from the Prime Minister and Finance Minister, there were 31 speakers representing different political parties. We are very happy with the outcome of the meeting which adopted unanimously a resolution which read that the government will bring the bill before Parliament according to procedure. All parties which participated in the meeting emphasised the primacy of Parliamentary procedure. We will, therefore, bring a bill in Monsoon Session of Parliament."
He added, "The bill will be examined according to established procedure while the government will make every effort to pass the bill at the earliest. That will depend on members of Parliament and their desire to follow established procedure."
The Home Minister said there was some discussion on the sidelines and that the government is "confident that they can take the process forward and try to pass it as soon as possible".
Inclusion of the Prime Minister in the ambit of the Lokpal has been a key sticking point between the members of the drafting panel.
Speaking on the issue, Mr Sibal said, "Prime Minister can say personally that he doesn't have a problem, but this is an institutional issue. Today, the Prime Minister is of Congress; he will be in 2014 too. But after that, we don't know who it will be?"
At a fiery meeting yesterday, a combative and largely united Opposition slammed the government for its handling of the bill, which is meant to rout corruption among politicians and bureaucrats. The BJP 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 Lokpal are unacceptable.
But today, Mr Sibal tried to douse the fire. "Maybe BJP needs more time. There's no problem with that," he said.
"There are two parties which are not ready to give final view. As soon as they do, all party meeting will be convened," said Mr Chidambaram.
The ministers, however, chose not to voice their concerns on the Supreme Court ruling on black money today.
"These are complex issues. We'll try to expedite consultation. One has to show understanding and patience," Mr Chidambaram said.