New Delhi: The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) yesterday resumed trading charges, holding each other responsible for the failure to get the ombudsman bill passed during its winter session.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi claimed that the BJP voted against the constitutional amendment bill on Lokpal because it was partly Rahul Gandhi's idea, while BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad questioned the prime minister's silence over the issue.
"BJP said in the standing committee in writing [that] we support constitutional status without conditionalities. In the all-party meeting, they supported constitutional status without conditionalities," Singhvi told NDTV news channel.
"In the Lok Sabha, a spurious argument was raised suddenly only because Rahul Gandhi was the author, irrespective of the merits," Singhvi said.
Another Congress leader, Manish Tewari accused the BJP of playing "negative politics" and creating an atmosphere of mistrust in the country.
"If BJP had supported the bill, which the Lok Sabha had passed, skies would not have fallen. If there were some shortcomings, parliament always has the right to reconsider it," Tewari said.
"We hope the kind of negative politics they did in 2011, will not continue in 2012," he said.
Silence
Ravi Shankar Prasad questioned the prime minister's silence on the issue during the debate in the Rajya Sabha.
"During the Lokpal debate in Lok Sabha, the prime minister intervened. Why did he maintain a conspicuous silence in the Rajya Sabha even though he is the leader of the upper house? Was it a political compulsion?", he asked.
Prasad also defended the opposition's right to introduce amendments to the bill. "It is our right to push amendments. If each MP would have given one amendment, there would have been at least 250 amendments," he said.
The Lokpal Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on the first day of the specially-extended three-day session of parliament, while the Rajya Sabha debated the legislation but adjourned without voting on it on the last day.
