Lokpal Bill update

Having expressed its reluctance to expose the office of the Prime Minister to the proposed Lokpal, the Congress has decided to call an all-party meeting in the hope of mobilizing support for its stand. The decision of the Congress’s core group to try to forge a consensus against civil society’s insistence on arming Lokpal with a sweeping jurisdiction over the PM, higher judiciary and the conduct of MPs inside Parliament comes at a time when talks between the two camps over the powers of the anti-graft ombudsman are deadlocked. The decision is in line with Lokpal panel chairperson Pranab Mukherjee’s earlier move to rally the political class against the agenda of the civil society by writing to chief ministers and leaders of political parties to respond to the demand for an overarching jurisdiction for the Lokpal. Not much came of the earlier manoeuvre as the Opposition, slighted for having been excluded from the negotiations with the civil society over the scope of Lokpal, cold-shouldered the government’s overtures. While opposition parties seem to share the Congress’s reservations, they don’t want to provide a breather to the UPA government that has borne the brunt osf the perception that politicians are unwilling to be held accountable. Congress, like many others in the political class, is against putting the PM within Lokpal’s jurisdiction as it fears that it would expose the crucial office to incessant mudslinging by vested interests, undermining its authority. Sources in the government said while PM is not averse to the idea of being brought under Lokpal’s scanner, they said that his preference will have to yield to party’s concern to save the authority of the office from being dwarfed by “reckless insinuations and charges”. “It is not the issue of what one individual thinks”, said a Cabinet minister familiar with the thinking in the government. The Congress core group meeting on Saturday did not get into the vexed issue. The government has made its opposition clear to bringing the office of the PM under the purview of Lokpal till he demits office and ruled out opening the conduct of MPs inside Parliament as also the higher judiciary to scrutiny of the proposed ombudsman. Sibal also claimed that government could change its stand on whether the PM should be put within the scope of Lokpal if the civil society representatives gave a “compelling argument”. Contending that it was not the question of an individual but an institution, Sibal asked,“Which PM in office anywhere in the world has been prosecuted in the world? Please tell me, please give me an example.”