July 3, 2011 12:46 PM

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All Party meeting on Lok Pal to be held in New Delhi today

The all-party meeting on Lokpal convened by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will be held at 4.30 PM in New Delhi today. At the meeting to be held at Prime Minister's residence, the government is expected to present to the parties a comparative draft of the provisions of the Lokpal Bill suggested by the civil society and those put forward by the five union ministers in the Joint Drafting Committee.As reported earlier, NDA and Left parties have confirmed that they will attend the meeting. Briefing the media after a meeting of the NDA leaders, Senior BJP leader L.K.Advani said that his party and allies will put forth their views on the anti-graft bill. He said, the government should first get the draft of the bill approved by the cabinet and introduce it in Parliament for debate on the issue.BJP itself is said to be having reservations against civil society demands like inclusion of higher judiciary and MPs' conduct in arliament because this would go against the constitutional provisions. On the other hand, the CPI(M) has accused the Congress of reversing its own stand of bringing the Prime Minister under the Lokpal purview, saying a parliamentary panel headed by senior party leader Pranab Mukherjee had made such a recommendation in 2001. CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat told the media in New Delhi that the Prime Minister should be included under the purview of the bill as his office is not immune to the Prevention of Corruption Act.

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