Cong boycotts Lokpal panel meet yet again
Kharge shoots off another letter to PM
The Congress on Tuesday once again boycotted the meeting of the Lokpal Selection Committee with its leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge saying that the government invited him as a ‘special invitee’ with the singular intention of excluding the opinion of the opposition in the selection process.
Kharge shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi declining the offer to attend the meeting and alleged that his government had not accorded priority and importance to the issue and its “double standards” stood exposed.
“Inviting the leader of the single largest opposition party as a ‘Special Invitee’ is done with the singular intention of excluding the opinion of the opposition from the selection process of Lokpal,” he said in his letter.
The Congress leader said the government is aware that there is no provision in the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act for a ‘special invitee’ without rights of participation, recording of opinion and voting in the procedure and it has been done only to “mislead” the nation and the people, rather than sincerely seeking the participation and opinion of the opposition.
“Therefore, to participate in this charade while your government runs roughshod over the intent and spirit of the Lokpal Act would amount to dereliction of my constitutional duty,” he said.
Kharge said the people of the nation should know that the government has wasted four precious years in the fight against corruption by not amending the Lokpal Act to include the leader of single largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha as a member of the selection committee under the said Act.
“This would have established the bona fides of the government in fighting corruption before the people,” he said.
“The process of appointing the Lokpal under such circumstances would be vitiated if the voice of the opposition is not included.
Under these circumstances, I must once again respectfully decline the invite as ‘special invitee’ to prevent any dilution of the letter and spirit of the Lokpal Act, 2013,” Kharge said in his letter to the prime minister.