Left for debate on Lokpal bill in Parliament

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) on Thursday said that they are presenting the Lokpal bill in Parliament for debate to bring the prime minister under its purview. Prakash Karat stated in a conference that let the bill be presented first in the Parliament for a debate on the floor of the House. He stated that the Left is hoping for a strong Lokpal bill including the Prime Minister within its purview but for that he urged for a debate in the Parliament. Karat, was however did not agree to the demand of Anna Hazare to bring the judges of High Court and Supreme Court under the ambit of this bill saying that the Left was for a separate judicial commission to overlook into the cases of corruption in judiciary. He also added that the Anna Hazar's bill had some sort of short coming, but refused to deal with it in detail. He affirmed that the parliament session will be beginning on August 1st, and also pressurised the UPA government to bring the Prime Minister under its purview. He pointed out that the prime minister had been included in the earlier drafts of the Lokpl bill presented in Parliament time and in 1989, 1996, 1998 and then in 2001. On the voting against Congress-led UPA regime in 2008, Karat maintained that 19 MP's had been paid a bribe to vote for the UPA. Reported by       AR