The sharp divide on whether the co-chair of the Jan Lok Pal Bill drafting committee, Shanti Bhushan, should resign or not was today apparent between the Congress party and civil society representatives.
While Congress General secretary Digvijay Singh said Bhushan should quit on moral grounds, civil society representative Arvind Kejriwal, among others, dismissed the suggestion.
Despite the odds, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said the Lok Pal bill will be tabled in the monsoon session of Parliament, but did not elaborate on the drafting process.
On the occasion of Civil Services Day, the PM said: “Our aim is to strengthen the legislative framework, revamp administrative practices and procedures and fast track a systemic response to fighting corruption. A committee of ministers and representatives of civil society is at work to finalise the draft of the Lokpal Bill, which we hope to be able to introduce during the monsoon session of Parliament.”
The controversies surrounding members of the Lokpal drafting committee have prompted at least one panel member to have second thoughts. Former Supreme Court judge and Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hedge said he was doubting his wisdom to continuing on the committee following allegations of graft on members of a panel trusted with finding an ombudsman against corruption. Hegde said he would take a view on the matter after consulting his colleagues.
Hegde, known for his vigorous campaign against corruption, said the current vilification campaign had put him off. “Everything stinks,” he said referring to “the manner in which the vilification campaign first went against (Anna) Hazare, then against the Bhushans (Shanti and son Prashant).”
Amar Singh too joined the bandwagon saying he was shocked to see the hypocrisy in those claiming to fight corruption. Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone, he said. Without vouching for the veracity of the CD where Shanti Bhushan was allegedly speaking about ‘managing’ a judge in the Andhra Pradesh High Court, Amar Singh said while the tapping of the conversation on the CD in circulation might be illegal, the former law minister and his son Prashant Bhushan should quit the panel.
“The Bhushans say they don't know me. Shanti Bhushan said has not met or interacted with me, but in 1996 he appeared twice in a case filed by us. We paid him his fees. But he has conveniently forgotten about it. He used an aircraft that I had arranged for. I maintain that the CD is illegal but the content is very lethal and dangerous if true,” Singh said.
“After the controversy, the father and son duo should voluntarily resign from the committee.” However, Kejriwal and the NGO community said it would not be deflected from its course of fighting corruption and maintained that it was backing the Bhushans.
Although Amar Singh said he was not acting on directions from the Congress party, his arguments had a striking similarity to those of Digvijay Singh. “These days the accused get their own cases investigated and give themselves a clean chit,” Digvijay Singh said in Lucknow.
“They (the Bhushans) got the CD examined themselves and said it was spliced. If this is the logic then A Raja should have been given charge of the investigation of the 2G spectrum matter.”
He said the Bhushans could not smell corruption in Noida, with “the Mayawati government taking Rs 5,000 per square feet of land”. “Shanti Bhushan and his son have 10,000 square-metre plots there, but they have no objection, that too when there was no information about the draw of lots. I expect that a learned person like Shanti Bhushan should clarify on this issue.”
On being asked whether Shanti Bhushan should resign from the joint committee, Singh said that he would leave that to his conscience. “He is a sensitive person with an emphasis on credibility,” Digvijay Singh said.
