Winter session to be extended for Lokpal Bill?

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Dec 19, 2011: In the government’s ongoing efforts to pacify anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday met Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and BJP leader LK Advani to chalk out possibilities of extending the winter session for the Lokpal Bill.

Anna Hazare and his team had been demanding that the Lokpal Bill be introduced and passed in the winter session, even if that requires extending the session of Parliament.

The government’s worries have increased, especially after Anna threatened to launch a jail bharo agitation and a fast from December 27 if the bill isn’t passed in this session.

What the government is banking on is support from other political parties. It hopes that with politicians keen to protect their turf, countering Anna’s fury will be easy.

Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet is also likely to meet to discuss the Lokpal Bill on Monday. Sources say the government is likely to give in to two out of Anna Hazare’s three demands.

As the winter session comes to an end, the government is working overtime to bring a please-all Lokpal Bill. Sources say that the UPA, under pressure, has proposed that the Prime Minister be included in the bill with riders, that Group C bureaucrats under the Chief Vigilance Commissioner be supervised by Lokpal and that the CBI director be appointed by a panel comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Lokpal. Sources say the government has also proposed that Lokpal members get a vigilance clearance from the CVC.

Sources say the government is also proposing nearly 50 per cent reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other backward classes in the Lokpal Bill and that the Lokpal monitors the CBI in cases of corruption it refers to the investigative agency.