New Delhi (PTI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today said that it would ensure that the Lokpal bill, if brought forward in the Monsoon session of Parliament by the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), is passed without any hassles. “That will be done. The UPA government should not only introduce the bill but also take steps to pass it,” veteran BJP leader L K Advani said at an election rally in Coimbatore.
He said that it had taken just four days for Anna Hazare and thousands of people to bring the government “to its knees” and agree for a draft Lokpal Bill, an irony, considering it took over two months for law makers to make the government agree to a JPC on the 2G Spectrum scam.
Advani said that the government had to bow before public ire as it feared any unrest all over the nation as in other countries would be very difficult to contain.
He said that Manmohan Singh had two strong points when he assumed office as Prime Minister — being a great economist and a honest person. But both were demolished by government’s non-performance on various counts, he alleged.
“He failed as an economist not being able to control the skyrocketing prices and the honesty was lost when the government was put on mat on major scams like 2G Spectrum, Commonwealth Games and Adarsh Housing Society,” Advani said.
Stating that Singh had to defend the corrupt practices of his cabinet colleagues, including the then Telecom minister A Raja, Advani said the PM had gone on record to state that this was part of the compulsion of coalition politics.
In contrast, A B Vajpayee who led the 23 party NDA never compromised on corruption. Despite US sanctions after Pokhran nuclear test, the NDA government held prices in check without creating problems for the common man, he said.
Meanwhile, Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said the UPA Government was ready to bring in and get the Lokpal Bill passed in the next session of Parliament if the Opposition cooperated with it.
Responding to queries on BJP leader L K Advani’s demand that the Lokpal bill should be introduced and passed in the next session of Parliament itself, Mukherjee said “we are glad to get it passed if the opposition co-operated for it”.
