Lokpal Bill likely to be tabled in Rajya Sabha today

The focus is back on the Lokpal Bill after days of adjournments in Parliament. The Bill will be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

On Thursday, BJP leaders of opposition Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley accused the government of stalling the Bill. Swaraj said that if supplementary bills can be passed in the din of the House, then so can the Lokpal Bill.

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The Samajwadi Party has already gone on record to say that it will oppose the Bill while the NCP says it will support it.

Earlier the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill was stalled in the Rajya Sabha in 2011. This session, too, the passage of Lokpal Bill is possible only if the House functions.

There are no plans to curtail Parliament's winter session, said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath even though the first five days have seen zero work. Nath said that Lokpal Bill remains the top priority even as both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have been repeatedly disrupted due to protests against the creation Telangana.

Both Houses continued to be disrupted and then adjourned on Thursday. On one hand Congress MPs from Seemandhra region of Andhra Pradesh have put the Congress-led UPA government in an embarrassing position by moving a no-confidence motion against it even as Anna Hazare's indefinite fast has brought the focus back on the Lokpal Bill pending before Parliament.

Anna Hazare continues his indefinite fast in Ralegan Siddhi for the Bill. His hunger strike has entered the fourth day on Friday. He also wrote to the Prime Minister on Thursday, accusing the government of stalling the Bill and betraying the country.

Aam Aadmi Party leader Yogendra Yadav said, "Call it the Anna effect or the resounding AAP success in Delhi polls, Lokpal Bill has been brought of the deep freeze."

"The bill has its genesis in Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement. It was passed by the Lok Sabha earlier, but was later sent to the Rajya Sabha select committee. Based on the recommendations of the select committee ammendments are to be introduced in the legislation," said Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Kamal Nath.

The BJP has, however, proposed the Bill as cleared by the select committee to be passed by Parliament. Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said, "In the Upper House the BJP and the Congress together have the numbers to get the legislation passed, but some smaller parties like the Samajwadi Party have openly come out in opposition to the Bill."

In the election year major political parties are clearly worried and none would want to be seen as being responsible for stalling the Lokpal Bill.