Centre delaying Lokpal to skirt accountability: Congress

NEW DELHI: The Congress has accused the NDA government of skirting the implementation of Lokpal to avoid accountability in the fight against corruption.

AICC spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi, who headed the parliamentary standing committee that processed the Lokpal bill introduced by the erstwhile UPA regime, also said the government “is deliberately not operationalising the Lokpal Act by delaying a small amendment to include the leader of the largest Opposition party in the selection panel to select the Lokpal.”

Pointing out how the UPA regime had completed the entire process of passing the Lokpal bill and ensured it got presidential assent before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Singhvi said, “the government doesn’t want Lokpal because it doesn’t want accountability.


The government is not appointing Lokpal on the basis of frivolous excuses. The bill is there for 36 months. In 36 months, has a small finger been waged by the BJP-led government to operationalise Lokpal?”

Singhvi further said “the government maintains there are issues and we are waiting to sort them out. What is the issue? The issue is just making a small amendment to replace the word ‘Leader of Opposition’ with ‘Leader of the largest opposition party’ in the three member selection panel to select the Lokpal. Can’t that be done within minutes?”

He alleged the Centre’s delay in operationalising the Lokpal Act was similar to how the Gujarat government delayed appointment of Lokayukta for many years.