SP to strongly oppose Lokpal Bill

NEW DELHI: Samajwadi Party today said it will strongly oppose the Lokpal Bill in Parliament, holding it was against the very basis of democracy.

"We are strongly opposed to the very concept of Lokpal. People who are elected by the people in elections are dishonest and only the Lokpal is honest. This is against the very basis of democracy," SP leader Naresh Agrawal told reporters here.

He was asked to comment on the tabling of the report of a Select Committee which went into the Lokpal Bill. In the last session also, Agrawal was the first to oppose it in Rajya Sabha and had sought to bring a motion for referring the Bill to a 15-member select committee of the House.

Agrawal said the issue of creating a Lokpal has been there since the times of Jawaharlal Nehru and Atal Bihari Vajpayee but it was not implemented then and "why it should be implemented now."

"The acceptance of the institution of Lokpal is to express disbelief in Parliamentary democracy. This cannot be allowed to happen," he said.

When pointed out that his party colleague Ramgopal Yadav was also a member of the Select Committee on Lokpal, Agrawal said, "He would have registered his protest and views there also."

Asked if his party was opposed to any particular clause in the Bill, he said, "We are against the whole Bill. We will openly oppose it in the House."