By IANS,
New Delh”: As his party members walked out of the Lok Sabha before the vote on the Lokpal bill, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav Tuesday said the bill was not “strong” and was brought by the government under pressure from Anna Hazare.
The 43 members of the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) staged the walkout ahead of the Lokpal vote in the Lok Sabha Tuesday night.
“We are opposed to the bill. It is not a strong bill. The government has brought it in haste. They were also under pressure because of Anna (Hazare),” Mulayam Singh told reporters outside parliament. Hazare is holding his three-day fast in Mumbai for a strong Lokpal.
The Samajwadi Party chief also said that they also staged the walkout as they did not want to vote with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The MPs of the two parties – who are arch rivals in Uttar Pradesh, which will see polls to the assembly in February – claimed that the government had not listened to their suggestions on the bill that envisages setting up of an all-powerful anti-graft ombudsman.
However, their non-participation in the vote eased the government worries because if they had voted against, passage of the bill could have been difficult.