Janata Dal (U) blasts Narendra Modi for making Lokayukta ineffective

By Dilip -

JD(U) on Wednesday launched a full-scale offensive against Gujarat chief ministerNarendra Modi for allegedly seeking to subvert the institution of Lokayukta and appropriate the powers of the anti-corruption ombudsman. The state passed the Gujarat Lokayukta Aayog Bill 2013 on Tuesday, which proposes a panel of six people headed by the chief minister to select the Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayukta.
"It is a totally ineffective bill. The Gujarat CM has kept all the powers in his hands. How will the Lokayukta function independently? How will it stop corruption?" asked JD(U) MP and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's trusted colleague Ali Anwar, in what could further contribute to the estrangement between the two NDA allies. In fact, Anwar, a former journalist handpicked by Nitish for two back-to-back Rajya Sabha terms, dragged BJP as a whole into the line of fire, accusing it of double standards over the issue of corruption.
"What is most unfortunate is that when the struggle for a strong Lokpal bill was going on under the leadership of Anna Hazare, BJP leaders such as Arun Jaitley had openly lent support. But now their own government has come out with a toothless piece of legislation," Anwar said. The attack, echoing Congress's criticism of Modi on the Lokayukta issue, comes amid increasing indications that the BJP may disregard Nitish's reservations to project the Gujarat CM as its prime ministerial candidate.
BJP, which usually hits out strongly against such provocations, chose not to return fire. Its spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said the broadening of the body to select the Lokayukta was to guard against the risk of the process being vitiated by whims and fancies of a single individual. She also said that the bill fully conformed to guidelines framed by the Centre for the purpose, stressing that Gujarat could not have acted otherwise because disbursement of approximately Rs 700 crore in central grants is contingent upon state government's compliance with the rules laid down by the Centre. "So, the bill provides to put panchayats, municipalities and city corporations under the purview of Lokayukta, exactly as laid down by the Centre," she said.
The state government has factored in the Supreme Court's verdict on the government's unsuccessful petition against the appointment of Justice (retd) R A Mehta as the Lokayukta, she said, stressing that Mehta's position remained completely untouched by the bill cleared by the state assembly.

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