New Delhi, July 1: Questioning BJP's “silence” over Lokpal Bill, Congress today accused the opposition party of “political opportunism” and dared it to spell out its stand on the demand for bringing Prime Minister and the higher judiciary under the ambit of Lokpal.
In a first categorical response of the Congress on the issue, party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi also made it clear that Congress was opposed to bringing Prime Minister and the higher judiciary under Lokpal but quickly added it was not final opinion and the party will go by the “collective will” of Parliament on the issue.
“The BJP has once again proved that it puts politics above national interest, evasion over constructive support, obfuscation over concrete action. Are they perhaps not the only party without a stand on Lokpal Bill? They have no stand either on government's draft or civil society's draft on it. “It is a reprehensible conduct by an irresponsible party, which is not interested in Lokpal but only in a desperate game to get political power through backdoor by undemocratic means after democratic rejections,” Singhvi said.
The BJP has made it clear that it is in favour of a Lokpal Bill but maintains that it has not yet formulated its stand on its nuances.
After a meeting with civil society members led by Anna Hazare today, the opposition party said that it will take a decision tomorrow at a meeting of its NDA allies on whether to attend the all-party meeting on July 3 or not. Congress leaders felt that BJP could skip the meeting.
Singhvi alleged that the “excuses” by BJP for not coming out with a clear stand on it are “flimsy” and “most childish” and its “silence” has other reasons. PTI
