File photo of Arvind Kejriwal
Delhi Chief Minister
Arvind Kejriwal has said that starting February 13, his pet proposal - the anti-corruption Jan Lokpal bill - will be reviewed and then voted upon by the state's law-makers. In a characteristically-maverick move, Mr Kejriwal has the special four-day session on the bill will end at a city stadium, and the public is invited to attend. (
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But a new development could thwart Mr Kejriwal's plans and engineer a new conflict between him and the Centre, whose top ministers he has repeatedly disdained as egregiously corrupt.
Mohan Parasaran, the country's Solicitor General, has said that before the Delhi legislature debates or votes on the bill, it must be cleared by the Union Home Ministry. That legal opinion is based on the fact that Lokpal or the ombudsman agency that is created the bill will be funded at least in part by the Union government.
In 2011, Mr Kejriwal and his mentor, Anna Hazare, led a cluster of NGOs and activists in demanding that Parliament pass the Lokpal Bill. It was not till December 2013, that the law was enacted. The country will have an independent agency - Lokpal - empowered to investigate charges of graft among government officials.
Mr Kejriwal has said that the law cleared by Parliament is so bland that it "cannot imprison even a mouse".
He says his version, the Jan Lokpal bill, is far more expansive and strident. The Solicitor General, however, has said that since Parliament has already enacted a similar law, Mr Kejriwal's iteration must be cleared by the President.
It was AAP's positioning as a party created to expunge corruption from the polity that resonated with voters in the recent Delhi election. It placed second, cogently illustrating public frustration with systemic graft, and allowed Mr Kejriwal to form a minority government.