SP to oppose Lokpal Bill in Rajya Sabha tomorrow

Rubbishing as "fabricated" a report that it may relent, Samajwadi Party today said it will oppose the Lokpal Bill when it is taken up in Rajya Sabha tomorrow.

"Our party will continue to oppose the Lokpal Bill in Rajya Sabha and our stand on it has not changed," SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav said outside Parliament House. Describing the reported assurance given by SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath during a meeting as completely "fabricated", Yadav said, "It has never been conveyed by Mulayam Singh that Samajwadi Party will support the Lokpal Bill. It is aboslutely wrong."

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Asked whether SP will continue to disrup the House on the issue and not allow the Bill to be passed, he said, "I can only say SP will oppose it and not support it." On the party's stand on the Bill, Yadav said, "Our stand has not changed. This (report) is only a rumour. You will see it tomorrow."

He also said SP has given no assurance to the Rajya Sabha Chairman that it will not disrupt the House when the Bill is taken up tomorrow. "No assurance was given to the Chairman. If the need arises, we will disrupt the House," he said.

The SP chief is also learnt to have expressed his reservation on the Lokpal Bill to the government. He is understood to have conveyed that the proposed legislation in its present form will give extraordinary power to ombudsman making it difficult for public servants to perform their duty. He is also of the view that present laws need to be strengthened to fight corruption