Mayawati wants PM, CBI, Group C employees in Lokpal ambit

Lucknow Dec 13: Accusing the Congress of being soft on corruption, UP Chief Minister Mayawati today (Dec 13) demanded that the Prime Minister, CBI, Group C and D employees be brought under the ambit of Lokpal and vowed to oppose the bill in its present form.

Citing the Commonwealth, 2G and Adarsh Society scams, she said that Congress' "lackadaisical policy indicates that it does not want to create a strong mechanism against corruption as maximum leaders and ministers of that party would be affected".

"Prime Minister, CBI, Group C and D employees should be brought under Lokpal Bill which should be strong and effective one", the chief minister told reporters here.

Babasaheb Ambedkar had framed the Constitution after considering all aspects and the Lokpal Bill should be in keeping with the federal structure of the Constitution and not against its basic spirit, Mayawati said, adding the draft for the bill should be prepared with consensus of all parties.

Mayawati, who stressed on making all provisions of the bill clear so that it could be understood by common people and not remain confined to a selected few, promised the support of her party only if suggestions put forward by the BSP are taken into account.

"All these things would also be put forward in the all party meeting by the BSP and if they are not taken into consideration BSP would oppose it all all levels", she warned.

Terming the draft of the Lokpal Bill prepared by the standing committee of Parliament as "weak", she stressed on the need for bringing the CBI under the ambit of Lokpal, saying "It (CBI) has often been misused by the central government. I am myself a victim of this".

Attacking the government on the black money issue, Mayawati alleged the UPA government was not interested in getting the names of people having foreign bank accounts and even the names which it had got are being kept under wraps.

She also flayed the Congress for misleading the people on the issue of corruption.

Terming corruption as the main cause of criminalisation in politics, the chief minister said that once the former is effectively controlled the latter would also be checked.

Patting her back on acting on the recommendations of the Lokayukt report, Mayawati said that unlike the governments of Karnataka and Delhi, her government has taken immediate action against its ministers and MLAs.

Maintaining that her government has inherited corruption and criminalisation in politics from the previous governments she said that she was working towards checking it effectively.

"Action has also been taken against those coming from other parties and spoiling our partymen," she said.

Mayawati also cited various steps taken by her government in this regard like implementing the Janhit guarantee law which has the provision of acting against inactive officials within a stipulated period.

The chief minister also demanded representation of all sections of society in all committees, saying SC/STs minorities and OBCs should be included at all places of decision making.

PTI