The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday said it was not opposed to taking part in an all-party meeting but would place its views on bringing the PM within the ambit of the Lok Pal only when the Congress and the government circulated their views.
“We are not opposed to participate in an all-party meeting to seek views...but, first we would like to have the views of the Congress and the government on the prime minister’s inclusion,” BJP chief spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad said here.
Stating there was no unanimity among the Congress and the government on the issue, Prasad claimed while a Congress leader was in the favour of bringing the PM within the ambit of Lokpal, others were opposed to it.
“The Congress and the government should at least come out with its tentative view on the subject,” he said, adding the country would like to know. When told about former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s reported statement that the PM should be brought within the purview of the Lokpal, Prasad said, “We know it.”
“We, in the BJP, have a categorical view on corruption,” he said. However, he declined to answer whether BJP favoured the Anna Hazare’s on the issue.
HEGDE CONCERNED
Santosh Hegde, Karnataka Lokayukta and member of the Lok Pal drafting committee, on Saturday said he was apprehensive about the final outcome of the proposed bill as it could be a watered down version of what was originally envisaged. “The discussion is nearly over and, after the last meeting, of what you read between the two parties, they do not seem to see eye to eye. Hence, I am apprehensive of the outcome of this effort,” he said in Bangalore.
