Lokpal Bill in limbo as Rajya Sabha runs out of time

The extension of the Winter Session of Parliament turned out to be futile as despite the passage of the Lokpal Bill in the Lok Sabha, it failed to even be put to vote in the Rajya Sabha. According to reports, after a twelve hour marathon session, the Bill could not be put to vote as chaos broke out in the House half an hour before the Session would automatically end at the stroke of midnight. The House was adjourned sine die by Chairman Hamid Ansari in the face of stiff opposition and a verbal spat that broke out between several members, including the government’s ally Trinamool Congress. The bone of contention was that the BJP wanted the Bill to be put to vote immediately while the Government insisted it required time to resolve contradictory 187 amendments moved by the members. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said that the government was willing to put the Bill to vote provided the House passed the Bill voted by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. This, in turn, meant that the amendments which the Opposition wished to move would have to be kept on the backburner.



Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley accused the government of escaping from Parliament which amounted to the UPA being reduced to a minority and that the House and not the government should decide how long it should sit, reports said. "A government which did not have the numbers in the House has consciously first choreographed a debate so that it cannot be concluded before 12 o' clock," reports said quoting Jaitley. The UPA II has under 100 members in the 243-member House and found it hassling when parties supporting the government such as BSP (18), SP (6) and RJD (4) expressed their opposition to the Bill and their resolve to vote against it, reports said. (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury said that the House had been awaiting the Bill since Wednesday which was actually brought on the last day of the Winter Session on Thursday, reports added. The Goverment received much flak for the turn of events with Trinamool Congress calling it a "shameful" day for democracy and a result of "orchestrated chaos," and BJP's Yashwant Sinha naming the PM "mauni baba" for his silence. The Lokpal Bill will now hang in limbo till the next session of Parliament, the Budget Session.