Mind your limits, subtle message from government to Team Anna

The introduction of the Lokpal Bill in Parliament today sparked the expected fireworks with the Congress-led UPA and the opposition BJP-led NDA taking different positions on the question of the Prime Minister coming under the Lokpal’s purview.

Earlier, in an apparent snub to the civil society group led by Anna Hazare, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the House that only Parliament had the power to decide how and when the Lokpal Bill is passed.

“Normal law making and the legislative process will be followed in the case of Lokpal. There will be no diluting of the authority of Parliament to make this law,” he said. A few hours later, responding to the burning of the government’s Lokpal Bill by Anna Hazare and his team, senior minister Kapil Sibal said it was disrespect of Parliament. He said the bill was the property of the House now.

On the subject of the Prime Minister, leader of the opposition Sushma Swaraj insisted that the office must come under the purview of the corruption watchdog. The bill of the government says the Prime Minister can be tried for corruption only after he demits office.

When the Prime Minister does not enjoy immunity from prosecution under the criminal law and Prevention of Corruption Act, why should he be kept out of the ambit of the Lokpal, she argued.

She said as per the Constitution, everybody was equal.

“How can anybody occupying any position be a holy cow. Why is the Prime Minister being kept out of its purview?” Swaraj asked. “When the Prime Minister has himself said he wants to be within its ambit. Why is the Cabinet not paying heed to his views?” she added.

Recounting the developments of 2002 when the BJP-led NDA was in power, she said Pranab Mukherjee, then chairperson of the standing committee on Home, had agreed to the Prime Minister coming under the purview of the Lokpal.

Mukherjee accepted that he had given nod to the NDA’s Lokpal Bill was true but questioned why it was never introduced in Parliament though the government had two years to do so.

A sharp political spin to the topic came when Sibal, addressing a press conference later in the day, charged the opposition with playing politics over the bill. “The politics is clearly visible in the objections to the Lokpal Bill,” he said.

Sibal sought to put the ball in BJP’s court, citing there was no Lokayukta in Gujarat, Bihar and other BJP-ruled states.

“Many names have been proposed, the Chief Minister (of Gujarat) has not agreed,’’ he said. The stage is set for a political battle between the UPA and the NDA. It does not augur well for Team Anna and its mission. So long as the political groupings keep fighting, it has to slog it out on the streets.