New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi will introduce a bill in the legislative assembly on Monday to set up corruption watchdog Jan Lokpal, a move which its former supporters now ranged against the government called cheating the spirit of an independent ombudsman.
“Delhi Jan Lokpal Bill 2015 to be presented in assembly on Monday... The most awaited D-Day.. just few hours ahead...,” deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia tweeted on Sunday.
In a statement, Swaraj Abhiyaan, a group co-founded by Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan who were expelled from AAP in April, said on Sunday, “It is a sad day to see a party born out of the Lokpal movement betraying all that it was founded for and all that it aimed to accomplish.”
The first AAP government quit in 2013 after failing to get enough support for the Jan Lokpal bill in the assembly. The current AAP government has said the bill is similar to the one prepared in 2013, sparking criticism from the former party members.
“As per the Kejriwal government’s proposed Jokepal is concerned, fact remains that neither AAP, nor its supremo Arvind Kejriwal has addressed and answered our specific concerns regarding the Lokpal Bill,” the statement added.
The group claimed the bill did not have the independent authority as originally proposed. “The Janlokpal bill had envisioned the appointments be made independent of the will of political class, but the provision in the present bill cheats the spirit of an independent Jan Lokpal. Out of the four members in selection committee, three would be from the political class. This is completely contrary to what Arvind Kejriwal has always said about the independence of Lokpal,” it said.
The draft law was cleared by the cabinet on the first day of the winter session of the Delhi legislative assembly.
The Jan Lokpal bill was formulated during the popular anti-corruption movement led by social activist Anna Hazare. Members of the group led by Kejriwal broke away from the movement to create AAP, a political outfit. The Jan Lokpal was projected as the civil society’s alternative to the proposed Lokpal Bill, a central legislation.
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