Government lacks clarity on Lokpal bill: BJP

With the government opposed to bringing the prime minister within the ambit of the Lokpal bill, the BJP on Saturday slammed it for "lack of clarity" towards the anti-graft legislation.

With the government opposed to bringing the prime minister within the ambit of the lokpal bill, the BJP on Saturday slammed it for "lack of clarity" towards the anti-graft legislation.

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"The government's view on bringing the prime minister under the bill is still not clear. Kapil Sibal has one view, home minister Chidambaram says something else," BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters on Saturday.

"The point is the government has no clarity at all. Once the government gives a tentative view on the bill and an all-party meeting is called, we can have more clarity," he added.

Earlier in the day, HRD minister Kapil Sibal said: "Within the government, we feel prima facie, the Prime Minister should not be covered (under the ambit of the Lokpal)."

"But at the same time, we want to make sure that if he demits office, he should not be exonerated from prosecution," Sibal told Karan Thapar in CNN-IBN's "Devil's Advocate" programme.

The central government and civil society activists, led by social activist Anna Hazare, are engaged in a war of words for over a month over various "fundamental issues", including bringing the prime minister, judges and parliamentarians under the ambit of the Lokpal.

Civil society members on the bill drafting committee include activist Arvind Kejriwal, former Supreme Court judge Santosh Hegde, former law minister Shanti Bhushan, who is the panel's co-chairman, and his activist-lawyer son Prashant Bhushan.

From the government’s side finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is the co-chairman, home minister P Chidambaram, HRD minister Kapil Sibal, law minister M. Veerappa Moily and minority affairs minister Salman Khurshid are on the panel.