Mayawati refuses to give opinion on Lokpal Bill

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati has refused to respond to the questionnaire on provisions of the Lokpal Bill, saying that seeking opinion of her party before tabling the bill in the Lok Sabha was contradictory to Parliamentary traditions.

"Seeking an opinion of the party before tabling the bill on the floor of the House was contradictory to Parliamentary traditions," Mayawati said in her three-page reply sent on June 4 to the letter from the chairman of Lokpal Bill drafting committee Pranab Mukherjee, party sources said.

Mayawati said that as there was no representative of the BSP in the drafting committee, she was not in a position to express her views. "Had there been any representative of my party in the draft committee, I would have been in a better position to express my opinion," she said.

Mukherjee had sought BSP's opinion about the proposed bill, likely to be tabled during the monsoon session of Parliament, in his May 31 letter, party sources said in Lucknow.

Expressing her displeasure over the composition of the Lokpal Bill committee, consisting of members of the civil society and the United Progressive Alliance ministers, Mayawati said the proposed Bill should be properly whetted by the House committee after it was tabled in Parliament.

"The bill should be finalised after careful consideration. The power, jurisdiction and functioning of Lokpal should be properly defined so that it cannot be misused," she said. Her party was in favour of the institution of Lokpal but there was need for a thorough debate on the issue, Mayawati said.