Set up joint panel to draft Lokpal Bill,Rajnath tells Centre

The government should immediately issue an official notification to constitute a joint committee, he said

Having extended his support to Anna Hazare,senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh on Friday asked the government to issue an official notification constituting a joint committee to draft the Lokpal Bill as demanded by the fasting social activist.

The former BJP president questioned the governments hesitation to accept Hazares demand to form a joint committee comprising citizens and intellectuals along with officials to draft the Jan Lokpal Bill. The government should immediately issue an official notification to constitute a joint committee, he said.

The confusion in the BJPs ranks became apparent when another senior leader Shanta Kumar went a step ahead and demanded convening of a special session of Parliament to consider passage of the proposed Lokpal bill. The BJP has so far maintained that it supports the essence of Hazares demands,but has refrained from getting into the specifics including the contents of the draft prepared by Hazare and his associates.

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Singh said the NDA government had twice introduced the Lokpal Bill,but due to absence of a broad based consensus the Bill could not be legislated.

Interestingly,Kumar urged yoga guru Ramdev to support Hazare and asked him to take the lead in the fight against black money. The people from all communities should support him, he said.

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