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New Delhi, November 28
Activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan accused Arvind Kejriwal of playing the “biggest fraud” on people by diluting the provisions of the Jan Lokpal draft of the Anna movement while Shanti Bhushan demanded the Delhi Chief Minister’s resignation on Saturday.
Prashant Bhushan read out certain provisions of the draft Bill that is yet to be made public by the Delhi government. He accused the AAP government of trying to provoke the Central Government by bringing its ministers and officials under the ambit of the proposed legislation.
He said Kejriwal does not like to be questioned like “Modi” so he has chosen not to make the contents of the Bill public.
“No activist or movement in India’s history has played such a big fraud with people. This will only ensure that the Central government does not approve and the Bill never gets passed. Kejriwal never had the intention to form a strong Lokpal body,” the former AAP leader said.
Dissident AAP MLA Pankaj Pushkar, who was also present at the presser at Bhushan’s Noida residence, claimed that he had managed to get hold of its copy in his capacity as a member of the Business Advisory Committee.
Bhushan questioned the appointment and removal processes of the Lokpal laid out in the Bill, which was recently cleared by the AAP Cabinet, saying they would put the Ombudsman at the mercy of the city government.
The Bill purportedly says that a four-member selection committee, comprising the Chief Minister, Speaker, Leader of Opposition and Delhi High Court Chief Justice would appoint the Lokpal, while dismissal can be ensured by a motion in the Assembly with two-thirds majority.
“Even the Centre’s Lokpal Act, which has been termed as jokepal by Kejriwal, is stronger than this Bill. This is a ‘mahajokepal’. Kejriwal must resign from office,” senior Bhushan said.
They said by expanding the jurisdiction of the Lokpal, by proposing to bring Centre under its ambit was uncalled for and aimed at stoking another fight. “In all the draft Lokpals that we have prepared till date, state Lokayuktas are not supposed to have any such powers.”
The father-son duo also criticised the proposed one-year imprisonement for false complaints, which they said would only deter complainants.
“So the falsity is to be decided by a sarkari lokpal?” they asked.
“We can now understand why this draft was kept under the wraps. The plan was to pass this maha jokepal Bill and then play victim by claiming that the Centre is obstructing it.
Will say nahi karne diya ji,” Bhushan said in a mocking tone.
Bhushans should join BJP, says AAP
Hitting back at Shanti and Prashant Bhushan, the AAP on Saturday claimed that they were opposing the Janlokpal Bill at the behest of the BJP and asserted that the proposed legislation was similar to the one tabled by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during his previous 49-day tenure.
Rejecting criticism by Bhushans, the ruling party in Delhi said the father-son duo should now join the BJP.
Launching the counter-attack, the AAP fielded its spokesperson Raghav Chadha, who had once hosted a Google Hangout on the Janlokpal Bill with Prashant’s father Shanti Bhushan—one of the key faces during the Anna Hajare movement.
“This is the same Bill which was introduced by the AAP government (during its 49-day rule). Prashant ji was fine when the same Bill was introduced during the AAP’s last government,” Chadha said
“Why did he not raise any issue at the time? Now that the BJP is in power, he does not want the Lokpal to investigate the Centre. He should join the BJP and also make public relations between (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley and the Bhushans.
“He should first ask his party (the BJP) to appoint a Lokpal at the Centre” he said, adding that it was (Prashant) Bhushan who had pushed for registering an anti-corruption case with the Delhi ACB against the then Union Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily and Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani.
AAP’s Delhi unit secretary Saurabh Bharadwaj said by opposing to bring the Centre under Delhi’s Lokpal ambit, Bhushan was “batting for the BJP”.
Meanwhile, Chadha said that the Bill will be tabled in the Assembly on Monday.
