Congress plans fresh push for pro-people bills; BJP cold

A day after AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal trained guns at the Congress and the BJP, the Congress is making a renewed push for the passage of six antigraft bills but the BJP is still lukewarm to the idea.

A day after AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal trained guns at the Congress and the BJP, the Congress is making a renewed push for the passage of six antigraft bills but the BJP is still lukewarm to the idea.

Congress leaders suggested they would try to find time to get the citizen-centric legislations, particularly the Right of Citizens for Time-Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, 2011, and the Whistle-Blowers Protection Bill, 2011, passed in the current session of Parliament.

The BJP supports these draft legislations in principle but there is some discomfort at the prospect of helping the Congress improve its track record at this stage.

“Telangana MPs may not be there to create trouble, but there are others who are still agitating. How is the government going to handle them?” a senior BJP leader asked.

Under the circumstances, it was unlikely that the Congress would not have sufficient time to push these bills next week.

For one, BJP leaders point, the treasury bench may just have a day or two to take up legislative business after the Vote on Account and the interim Rail Budget.

This would include the Telangana bill expected to be taken up on Wednesday.

“That further tightens government’s schedule since Friday is the last working day of this session of Parliament.... Where is the time to discuss anti-graft bills,” a senior BJP leader said.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had identified six legislations that parliament should pass to fight corruption, something that AAP leaders insist the two major political parties will talk but never pass.

“We have been saying that Congress and the BJP are two sides of the same mirror. They public posturing is totally different from their actions,” said An and Kumar, AAP spokesperson.

Congress leaders suggest that if the BJP does not play ball with the government on such important legislative proposals, the party was certainly going to sharpen their attack on them.

On Saturday, Gandhi led the attack at a rally in Karnataka’s Belgaum, to build pressure.

“Who is standing against those bills? We want to pass them. We are being stopped in Parliament. Who is stopping it? BJP is stopping it. They do not allow functioning of Parliament,” Gandhi said.