New Delhi: Left parties on Sunday asked the
Government to give them a draft of the Lokpal Bill before
convening any all party meeting on the issue.
"It is not only the issue of whether the Prime Minister
should be brought under the purview of Lokpal. There are many
other aspects of the bill which we would like to study,"
CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said.
"As far as the Left parties are concerned, we would like
the government to give us a draft of the bill. Only if we can
study such a draft, will we be able to give our opinion and an
all party meeting can be fruitful," Karat said.
Karat has spoken to the leaders of other Left parties who
were also of the opinion that the Government should first
come out with a draft of the bill before holding any
discussion.
Yesterday, CPI national secretary D Raja had also said
the entire proposed legislation should be distributed to the
parties for a proper debate.
"They should give us the entire draft bill, the one they
are going to bring to Parliament. How can a proper discussion
take place without it?", Raja had said.
"... This is not the way to consult political parties
since the government is saying that they will discuss only one
issue, whether to include Prime Minister (in the ambit of
Lokpal) or not," he had said.
PTI
