June 18, 2011 7:30 PM

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Govt likely to call all party meeting on Lokpal

Government is expected to call an all party meeting on the issue of bringing Prime Minister within the ambit of Lokpal as differences have emerged between government and and the civil society on the issue. Sources said, the issue was discussed in the Congress Core Commitee meeting today and many top leaders favoured an all party meet. The Government is prima facie opposed to the inclusion of Prime Minister within the ambit of Lokpal but is open to the idea of covering him once he demits office. The civil sociaty representatives one the other hand, are demanding inclusion of Prime Minister as also higher judiciary in the proposed Lokpal bill. The meeting attended by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress party President Sonia Gandhi also discussed the Telangana issue. Meanwhile, The BJP today said, it is not opposed to taking part in an all party meeting but will place its views on bringing the Prime Minister in the ambit of the Lokpal only after the Congress and the government circulate their views on the issue. BJP chief spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad told reporters in Patna that BJP has a categorical view on the issue of corruption but declined to answer whether his party favoured the Prime Minister being brought within the ambit of the proposed legislation. Government will discuss the draft Lokpal Bill with all political parties and also seek opinion of state chief ministers before sending it to the Union Cabinet for approval. Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal told Doordarshan in an interview that agreements and disagreements on the draft will be presented before the political parties. Sibal said the issue of tackling corruption is important and the government does not consider that the civil society did anything wrong by highlighting it. He said after the Cabinet nod, the bill will be introduced in Parliament.

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