BJP slams Rahul's 'sermon' on Lokpal

Asking Rahul Gandhi not to give "sermons" but to persuade the Prime Minister to bring changes in Lokpal bill, the BJP on Friday slammed his speech in Parliament saying it closes the way for ending Anna Hazare's fast.

Asking Rahul Gandhi not to give "sermons" but to persuade the Prime Minister to bring changes in Lokpal bill, the BJP on Friday slammed his speech in Parliament saying it closes the way for ending Anna Hazare's fast.

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"We don't want Rahul's sermons. It is surprising that he is giving sermons to the nation but his party under Manmohan Singh is dill-dallying on a strong Lokpal issue. We urge him stop sermonising and persuade Prime Minister to bring changes in the Lokpal Bill," senior BJP leader Ananth Kumar said.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley was equally dismissive of Gandhi's speech in which he proposed making Lokpal a constitutional body like the Election Commission.

"When you have no solution to offer you talk of systemic changes," Jaitley said.

His counterpart in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said, Gandhi's speech "closes the way for ending Anna's fast."

She also made clear her displeasure at Speaker Meira Kumar giving 15 minutes to Gandhi to give his "sermon" in the House when he was not scheduled to speak on Friday .

Some BJP leaders said that the speech reflected that Gandhi differs with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the Lokpal issue and Hazare's fast.

While Singh had been full of praise for Hazare in his speech on Thursday and this led to the Lok Sabha passing an unanimous resolution requesting the Gandhian to end his fast, Gandhi made no such gesture and even questioned such methods of protest.