Trinamool rules out compromise

UPA ally Trinamool Congress ruled out any compromise on the Lokayukta provision

Hardening its stand on the Lokpal Bill,UPA ally Trinamool Congress on Sunday ruled out any compromise on the Lokayukta provision and said the government should have faced voting in the Rajya Sabha.

Trinamool Congress is not going to compromise on the federal structure of the Constitution,and amendments put forward by the party have to be accepted, party general secretary and MP Mukul Roy told PTI.

He was reacting to Saturdays statement by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram that the Trinamools demand for total deletion of the Lokayukta provision might not be easy to meet and that the government might accept one or two of its amendments. Roy said the manner in which the Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die without passing the Lokpal Bill did not augur well for democracy. The government should have faced voting, he added.

Roy claimed that there was an understanding with the government that the Trinamool Congresss suggestions would be taken care of before the Bill was moved in the Rajya Sabha. This assurance was not kept. Mamata Banerjees voice has found an echo in the opinions expressed by other chief ministers of the country, he said.

Maintaining that Lokpal was not an isolated issue,Roy felt it was not proper to concentrate power in the Centres hands and the states rights should be recognised. He noted that the Central List,Concurrent List and the State List had clearly defined subjects and there were no grey areas.

Rajya Sabha member Derek O Brien said the partys stand on Lokpal was consistent,clear and had become a national stand. The Trinamool Congress,BJP and Left parties had moved amendments for deletion of Part III of the Lokpal Bill related to the appointment of Lokayukta in states.

Lalu did not tutor me to tear Bill
New Delhi: RJD MP Rajniti Prasad on Sunday rubbished the BJPs allegation that Lalu Prasad had orchestrated his action of tearing the Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha. Laluji had not tutored me to take any such action, he told PTI. There was no ring master8230; Whatever I did was an outcome of my emotional outbursts on the spur of the moment, he said. During the high drama shortly before midnight,the RJD chief was seated in the Lok Sabha members gallery of the Upper House,calmly watching the scene. Unrepentant,Prasad said he would not allow passage of the Bill in future too if it did not incorporate amendments like defining the applicability of reservation for SC/ST/OBC,minority and women in the anti-graft panel and excluding the prime minister from its ambit. As the MP justified his action,his party colleagues in the Upper House also supported him.