Don't disparage steps seeking consensus on Lok Pal: Congress

Congress today frowned upon the Opposition attempts to seek a "consensus against government" on the Lok Pal Bill and contended that efforts to reach a consensus on the issue "should not be prematurely denigrated".

Party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi also indicated that another meeting could take place to sort out the differences as some general consensus has already been arrived in the yesterday's all party meeting convened by Prime Minister.

"It is important that all political parties met and there was a general consensus on some issues. It is a work in progress.

"There have been serious areas of disagreement but the efforts should not be prematurely denigrated as a resolution can come only out of a Parliamentary consensus," Singhvi told reporters here.

After the meeting yesterday, Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley had said the consensus among the parties, including some UPA constituents, was completely against the government that the federal structure cannot be disturbed and the Lokayukta provision be deleted.

Eighteen of the 23 parties, which attended the meeting to evolve a consensus on the contentious provisions of the bill, had demanded "deletion" of the provision relating to setting up of Lokayuktas in the Lok Pal Bill.

As the key UPA constituents also joined the Opposition in making this demand on the ground that it would otherwise affect the federal structure, the Lok Pal Bill appears all set to undergo some changes.

Though there is an attempt to pass the Bill in the second half of the Budget session, such a possibility appears bleak as differences still persist on some other provisions like the appointment process of Lok Pal and keeping the CBI out of government control.