Prashant Bhushan termed AAP government's Jan Lokpal Bill "mahajokepal".
After terming ruling Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) 2015 ombudsman Bill "mahajokepal", former party leader Prashant Bhushan today challenged Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to a public debate on the Jan Lokpal Bill even as he warned of a stir outside Assembly on Monday when the proposed legislation is tabled.
The senior lawyer said that the agitation will be held under the aegis of Swaraj Abhiyan, a group floated by Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav following their expulsion from AAP.
Although there was no immediate response or reaction from AAP on Prashant Bhushan's remark, the ruling party has rubbished the Supreme Court lawyer's allegations that he was speaking against the said Bill at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"My track record is such that such allegations don't merit any response," he said.
Slamming the Bill, Prashant Bhushan said, "We were shocked to find that the present Bill is against every principle on the basis of which the anti-corruption movement fought for the institution of Janlokpal. It proposes a Lokpal that is to be completely controlled by the government."
AAP is claiming that the Bill is identical to the the draft prepared during the Anna Hazare movement and the 2014 Bill that it had tried to introduce in the Delhi Assembly.
"Kejriwal should come and debate this in public. It will expose the fraud with the people of the country and the anti-corruption movement. If you have actually copied from Janlokpal Bill 2014 or Uttarakhand Bill, then what took you so long?
"Why did Arvind keep on tweeting that he is drafting the Bill?" Prashant Bhushan asked.
Former Union Law Minister and Prashant Bhushan's father, Shanti Bhushan, too, hit out at Mr Kejriwal and likened him to Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda minister of the infamous Hitler regime.
"This Goebbels is the CM of Delhi. He had said he will slash the salaries of MLAs by half, but has instead raised it by two-and-a-half times," said Shanti Bhushan.