Attacking the opposition for Rajya Sabha's failure to pass the Lokpal Bill, parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Bansal today said the Bill will be taken up for consideration in the Bedget session of parliament.
"The Conduct of the opposition particularly the BJP in the Rajya Sabha, only showed that they were only interested in not passing the Bill," he told a press conference the night after the house was adjourned sine die abruptly without passing the Bill.
Also read: BJP choreographed fiasco on Lokpal Bill in RS: Govt
Bansal said the opposition and a party, apparently referring to ally Trinamool Congress, were not willing to play ball. They were not willing to cooperate. "They would rather see the nation fail than the government succeed."
Denying the charge of governmwnt having choreographed last night's events in rajya sabha, he said, "They (opposition) are guilty of stalling the proceedings for the simple reason that they did not want the Bill to be passed."
The minister said the effect of the enormous number of amendments (187 in number) was "confusing" and it was difficult for a governmwnt to accept them and to get the Bill passed because it would lead to legal problems.
"It is not that the Bill is dead. The amendments will be taken up in the budget session for consideration," Bansal said.
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Salman Khurshid slams BJP on Lokpal Bill
Law Minister Salman Khurshid today accused BJP of not speaking about its problems with Lokpal Bill before the debate on it in Rajya Sabha and sought to know from the party why it did not ask for the legislation to be put to vote with limited discussion.
Khurshid also attacked Team Anna for their criticism on non-passage of the Bill in Rajya Sabha, saying they never welcomed the passage of the legislation in Lok Sabha.
"Why did they (BJP) speak for long? He (Jaitley) should have spoken for 10 minutes. Whatever he had to say, he could have said in 10 minutes. They could have reduced the number of speakers they had," he told reporters here.
The Minister was responding to a question on Jaitely's remarks that the whole action in Rajya Sabha was choreographed and speakers were made to continue the debate.
Khurshid said if the BJP had believed that it had the support of the rest of the House, it should have sought a direct vote without any debate.
"Why don't they answer all that. If the game is played it is played on both sides. Why were they playing a game? It is as simple as that," he said.
On Team Anna member Kiran Bedi attacking Government for its failure to pass the Bill, he said the former IPS officer has all the right to air her views.
"She says a lot of things and she will continue to say. That is her right. I don't remember Team Anna welcoming when Lokpal Bill was passed in Lok Sabha. We were villains then and now too," he said.