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Left wants PM in, judiciary out of lokpal ambit
The Left on Monday announced a nation-wide agitation in July to demand an effective lokpal bill to fight corruption. HT reports.
The Left on Monday announced a nation-wide agitation in July to demand an effective lokpal bill to fight corruption. Though it favoured bringing the prime minister within the ambit of the anti-graft ombudsman, but the Front wants the higher judiciary out of it.
In a related development, former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda also came out in support of anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare’s demand that the prime minister must be brought in the purview of the lokpal.
“Politicians in the country are looked at by people with suspicion, PM or Deputy PM... everybody should be brought under its (lokpal’s) purview,” Gowda said.
The four Left parties — CPM, CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc — have decided to picket central government offices across the country, hold demonstrations, dharnas and rallies between July 15 and 21, just ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament, said a joint statement by the Left parties.
The Left decided to demand adoption of an effective lokpal legislation and establishing a separate National Judicial Commission outside the purview of the anti-corruption ombudsman to curb corruption in the higher judiciary.
“A separate and independent institution is required to probe allegations against judges,” said the CPI general secretary AB Bardhan.
“We are for jurisdiction of the lokpal on the prime minister and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), because excluding him on any ground would mean exclusion of at least one-third of the entire government,” Bardhan said.
“Works of various departments and ministries are monitored by the PMO. There are directions given by the PMO on many issues, like the recent alleged scam involving the allotment of high-security S-Band spectrum by the Department of Space which fell under the PMO,” Bardhan said.
The Left Front is the only political formation, which has made its stand clear on the lokpal bill and the bringing the PM under its purview.
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