By IANS,
New Delhi: Partners in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) have expressed differing opinions on having the prime minister within the ambit of the Lokpal bill, with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) opposing the idea while the DMK is “not against it”.
NCP spokesman D.P. Tripathi said his party did not want the prime minister to be under the purview of Lokpal.
“The dignity of the prime minister’s Office has to be preserved. He deals with so many confidential matters of the state relating to intelligence and external affairs,” Tripathi told IANS Saturday.
He said including the prime minister in the ambit of the bill will amount to “weakening the state apparatus”.
Tripathi said there were other mechanisms for accountability of the prime minister, including no confidence motion in parliament and public interest litigation.
Referring to a plan by the government to call an all-party meeting on the Lokpal bill, Tripathi said his party had made the suggestion in its response to the queries on the Lokpal bill sent by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who chairs the joint drafting committee on the bill.
However, DMK spokesperson T.K.S. Elangovan said his party was not against bringing the prime minister in the ambit of Lokpal.
“We are not against it,” Elangovan told IANS.