Who said what on the Lokpal Bill while it was being debated in the RS
December 17, 2013  17:59
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Opposing the Bill, Anil Desai (Shiv Sena) said, "Creating an extra-constitutional body Lokpal amounts to blatant attempt to undermine our Constitution." "Tomorrow, if the Lokpal falters, there is no provision to remove it," he said. Desai also mentioned that in the past, as many as eight Bills on Lokpal were introduced but all lapsed. "From 1966 to 2011, nothing came up for creation of Lokpal," he said.


Supporting the Bill, Y S Chowdary (TDP) said Andhra Pradesh would have benefited if the Bill was passed last year. He suggested the government to have a proper monitoring of the proposed Lokpal in the first five years and a system of submitting a performance report to Parliament.


M S Gill (Cong) favoured the Bill but begged to differ on a provision to bring Prime Minister under the ambit of the Lokpal Bill saying that there are other ways. He suggested that the government must reduce "suspicion" on bureaucrats as they are doing great service to the country. Gill, who is also Youth Affairs and Sports Minister, said he saw "the dominance" of advocates, judges and police at present in the country.


M P Achuthan (CPI) moved an amendment to bring all entities getting concessions from the government under the ambit of the Lokpal Bill. He also asked the government to also bring the Citizen Charter Bill and the Whistle-blower Bill in the House soon.

Bhalchandra Mungekar (Cong) supported the Bill and said he was not comfortable including incumbent Prime Minister under the it. "Including Prime Minister demolishes the moral authority of the Bill," he added.
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