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Sushma for Special Session on Telangana
Highlights
Sushma For Special Session On Telangana. Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj stated on Thursday that BJP would prefer that the Government should convene a Special Session of Parliament to pass Telangana Bill, even as the party demanded that the government should pass the Lokpal Bill in this very session.
l BJP committed to passing the T Bill
l Demands Lokpal Bill in this session itself
New Delhi: Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj stated on Thursday that BJP would prefer that the Government should convene a Special Session of Parliament to pass Telangana Bill, even as the party demanded that the government should pass the Lokpal Bill in this very session.
She said that the Select Committee had given unanimous recommendations and all of them should be passed by voice vote, even if it was amid din, just as the Demands for Grants(General) and Demands for Grants (Railways) were passed earlier in the day.
Talking to the Hans India, Sushma Swaraj said the BJP was committed to pass the Telangana Bill, the reason why it was not supporting the No-Confidence Motion moved by the Seemandhra Congress MPs, YSRCP MPs and the TDP MPs. She said that all these MPs were anti-Telangana and though the BJP was keen to dislodge the Congress, it would not support the Motion.
She said that at present the Seemandhra MPs were finding it difficult to get the support of 55 MPs to get their Motion admitted. Accusing the government of running away from Parliament without transacting any business, Sushma Swaraj informed that she received a phone call from Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath, who sought her suggestions on running the House.
She advised him to make full use of the session by passing the Lokpal Bill, “At least the Session should be remembered for the Lokpal Bill instead of being a complete wash-out,” she told Kamal Nath.
Briefing the media, Sushma Awaraj along with leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said that the Centre should pass the Lokpal Bill, by bringing it before the Rajya Sabha on Friday and in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Jaitley objected to the stand taken by the government for bringing the Bill with 13 amendments as passed by the Select Committee and two amendments brought by the government on its own. The two amendments are – allowing transfer of the investigating CBI officer and the need to issue show-cause notice before launching search or seizure operation which robs the suddenness and surprise element that it required in such cases. Both the amendments nullify in effect what the Lokpal institution seeks to achieve.
Pressurised by social activist Anna Hazare, who also equally blamed the BJP for its failure to get the Lokpal Bill passed, the BJP upped the ante for its passage. Jaitley informed that it has been 46 years, when the Bill was initially brought in Parliament. It came to Parliament several times but could not be legislated. For the last 3 years, the Bill has been debated in the Standing Committee.
It was brought in the Lok Sabha and passed on December 27, 2011, and was discussed in the Rajya Sabha threadbare. As the Opposition had suggested several amendments to the Bill, the UPA government got the House adjourned on December 29, 2011. Later, the Bill was referred to the Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha chaired by Congress MP Satyavarth Chatturvedi, which produced a unanimous report, which was presented to the Rajya Sabha on December 23, 2012, where it has been pending ever since.
Jaitley objected to the amendments being brought by the government saying that the Union Cabinet had no jurisdiction as under Rule 91 of the Rules of Procedures and Conduct of Business in Rajya Sabha, it is only the House that can accept and amend the report unlike the Standing Committee where the government can propose amendments to the report.
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