India: Consensus eludes all-party meet on Lokpal (Ombudsman)

New Delhi, Dec 15 (PTI) Consensus eluded an all-party meeting called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday night on Lokpal (Ombudsman) legislation with parties voicing divergent views on some key elements like inclusion of the Central Bureau of Investigation and lower bureaucracy under its ambit. However, after the four-hour meeting, questions arose on whether the bill would be passed in the current winter session of Parliament ending on December 22, with a number of parties asking the government not to take any decision in haste on a matter having far-reaching implications. There were suggestions that a special session of Parliament could be convened to allow time to evolve consensus, sources said. Consensus could not be reached at the meeting even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sought cooperation of political parties to ensure passage of the "momentous" bill during the ongoing session. He said the Bill should not become a subject of party politics as the government was keen to get it passed in Parliament based on a consensus that is driven by the House as the "custodian of legislation". Seeking "guidance and cooperation in this matter of paramount importance", Singh said, "I am personally keen that this momentous legislation should be passed on the basis of consensus among all parties as far as possible and that this should not be subjected to party politics in any way." The meeting saw divergent views being aired by leaders of the parties, with the rightwing Bhartiya Janata Party pitching for inclusion of the lower bureaucracy under the Lokpal, a stand staunchly opposed by Communist Party of India. BJP and other opposition parties also demanded that CBI's investigative wing should come under Lokpal. However, both the Left and Right were on the same page with regard to inclusion of PM under the Lokpal. CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said his party feels that the lower bureaucracy cannot be brought under Lokpal because there are crores (tens of millions) of such employees. There should be separate mechanism to deal with them, he told reporters. CPI(Marxist) struck a discordant note on this with CPI with its leader Sitaram Yechury saying they should be brought under the purview of Lokpal. However, the government said a separate mechanism was needed for this and "we asked the government to come out with concrete proposals in this regard", he told reporters. Yechury said his party also wanted the corruption cases handled by CBI to be under Lokpal because without an investigative agency, Lokpal will "not be effective". To this, the government noted that CBI also handles non-corruption cases, the CPI(M) leader said, adding the government was asked to think about this. Yechury said the government gave no commitment about bringing the bill during the current session. Sushma Swaraj, leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, the lower house, said the government must bring the Lokpal Bill during the current session itself as the Prime Minister had himself made a commitment in this regard to Anna Hazare. However, the government did not make any commitment on bringing the Bill and only stated that it would try, sources said. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that there were such divergent views by political parties as well as in the Standing Committee on Lokpal and hence to incorporate these was quite a task, they said. At the meeting, BJP stuck to its position articulated at the Standing Committee on the contentious issues. CPI leader D Raja said if need be, the current session could be extended or a special session convened later. Ruling United Progressive Alliance partners, including Trinamool Congress and DMK, stood by the government on the bill. PTI