Will go by party stand on Lokpal, says Digvijaya

Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh has said that he will go with the decision of the party on the issue of including the prime minister in the Lokpal’s ambit. While speaking to newspersons in Guna on Sunday, Singh had said that the prime minister, judiciary, NGOs and industrial houses should be brought under the purview of the Lokpal. This is not the first time that Singh has made a statement which has run contrary to the government's views on a subject.

On June 1, when the prime minister decided to send four ministers to the airport to hold discussions with Baba Ramdev, Singh had questioned the move openly. Singh has been defying informal ‘gag orders’ issued by the Congress media department chairman Janardan Dwivedi. As Singh manages to come out of controversies unscathed, there is a growing perception that the party high command tends to field him deliberately to create an impression of a disconnect between the government and the party on a subject.

When questioned about his ‘include-PM-in-Lokpal' statement made on Sunday, from which other senior Congress leaders have distanced themselves, he merely said, “I have conveyed my views a number of times on these issues. I need not repeat it.” Singh said the drafting committee should first be allowed to complete its job and then the matter can be debated in Parliament. “When I was the Madhya Pradesh chief minister, I had brought the chief minister’s post under the purview of Lokayukta,” he said.

Asked whether his statement points to differences between the government and the party on the issue, Singh said, “leave this to the drafting committee . It is their job.” “Let the committee, which has members from the civil society as well, first complete its job and give the recommendations. Then it can also go to the Standing Committee . As far the passing of legislation is concerned, it is Parliament's job. Let this be a matter of debate within Parliament rather than outside,” he said. To a question on whether his stand is not at variance with that of the government, Singh said that he remembers “having read a statement of prime minister in which he had said that he had no objection to it.”