By IANS,
New Delhi: The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Tuesday criticised the Lokpal bill as full of “loopholes” and demanded a strong law that envisages setting up of a powerful and effective anti-corruption mechanism but with some accountability.
“There are lots of deficiencies in this (government) bill. We demand a strong, effective and credible Lokpal. We should enact a legislation accordingly,” CPI-M’s Basudeb Acharia said, participating in the debate on the Lokpal bill tabled in the LOk Sabha last week.
He said corruption was a “major problem” India was facing and “with the current bill, we do not expect a strong Lokpal”.
He asked the government to have an “open mind” and amend the Lokpal bill with a one that envisages creation of an ombudsman that “has its own investigation agency”.
“The bill that we are discussing has a whole lot of loopholes,” Acharia said.
The CPI-M leader said his party was not for absolute autonomy of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Lokpal.
“They should be accountable,” he said.