Congress eyeing a 'loyal' Lokpal: BJP

NEW DELHI: After opposing senior advocate PP Rao's inclusion in the Lokpal selection panel, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swarajon Tuesday said she would request PresidentPranab Mukherjee to convince the government that the panel be formed unanimously and not by majority vote. 

This comes after she gave a written dissent on Rao, who was recommended as an eminent jurist on the panel by PM Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Chief Justice of India's nominee Justice H L Dattu. Swaraj's objection to Rao was that "he was too much of aCongress loyalist," which she communicated to the PM at Monday's meeting. 

While a four-member panel headed by the PM recommends the name of an eminent jurist to be part of the selection committee to pick the Lokpal, the President appoints the member. 

Unhappy with her experience at a meeting to choose the eminent jurist on Monday evening at Singh's residence, Swaraj said, "They (Congress) want to pack this body with their loyalists." 

Swaraj told reporters a meeting was called at 8 pm on Monday. At the meeting, a list of seven names that included Fali S Nariman, K Parasaran, P P Rao, Mohan Gopal, Chandrashekhar Pillai and two others were taken up, but the PM suggested Rao on his own and Kumar and Dattu accepted. Swaraj objected saying she thought Rao was not in the category of eminent jurist, so if it had to be from the list it could be Parasaran. 

Swaraj said the PM insisted that she agree to Rao, but she told him that he was known to be too much of a Congress loyalist. So when the panel went ahead and recommended Rao, Swaraj ensured that her dissent and that she favoured Parasaran was registered. Swaraj also suggested that the decision be delayed by a couple of days and the shortlist expanded to include people like Soli Sorabjee and Harish Salve among others, she told the media on Tuesday. 

"I feel that when the country is finally getting a Lokpal after 40 years, it should be a unanimous decision. It looks like the Lokpal will also be chosen in a manner which would ensure that he or she is a Congress loyalist. It is sad since people will have no faith in the Lokpal chosen in this manner."