New Delhi: 6:00 pm: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called the passing of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill a "landmark step" and thanked all the leaders for supporting it.
5:50 pm: Social activist Anna Hazare thanked the Rajya Sabha for passing the Lokpal Bill. He hopes that the Lokpal Bill will be passed in the Lok Sabha too.
5:47 pm: Rajya Sabha passes the Lokpal Bill even after the Samajwadi Party staged a walk-out. The Bill is likely to be passed in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
5:25 pm: Rajya Sabha votes on amendments moved by the parties.
5:11 pm: Kapil Sibal thanks MPs for supporting the Lokpal Bill. He says sometimes it is necessary to rise above political lines. "No defeat is shameful it is way you look at it."
5:10 pm: Discussion on the Lokpal Bill concludes.
5:05 pm: Independent MP Amar Singh is now speaking on the Lokpal Bill and whole heartedly supports the Bill. He says, "We politicians are our own enemies."
5:01 pm: INLD MP Ranbir Singh Prajapati says the CBI and the Prime Minister should be under Lokpal's purview as the CBI is working as per government's desire.
4:50 pm: RJD MP Ram Kripal Yadav says the party supports the Lokpal Bill but have doubts that the Bill will be misused. He says there should be effort to make this exemplary as there is a perception that all the politicians are corrupt.
4:43 pm: LJP MP Ram Vilas Paswan agrees with Naresh Gujaral's opinion that the Prime Minister should not be under Lokpal's purview. He thanked the Select Committee and Law Minister Kapil Sibal for the law. He hits out at the social activist saying, "They have painted all the MPs corrupt."
4:39 pm: SAD MP Naresh Gujral supports the Lokpal Bill and expressed his disappointment over the delay in the passage of the Bill. He says the Prime Minister should be outside Lokpal's purview.
4:33 pm: Shiv Sena MP Anil Desai opposes the Lokpal Bill.
4:30 pm: AGP MP Birendra Prasad Baishya is speaking on the Lokpal Bill. he says. "The country needs not only a strong Lokpal but strong Lokayukta too. The Prime Minister and members of Parliament should under the purview of the Lokpal."
4:26 pm: AGP MP Birendra Prasad Baishya is speaking on the Lokpal Bill.
4:21 pm: AIFB MP Dr Barun Mukherji is speaking on the Lokpal Bill and asks for an amendment on PPP.
4:18 pm: TDP MP YS Chowdary is speaking on the Lokpal Bill and highlights the rampant corruption in Andhra Pradesh. The party supports the Bill.
4:13 pm: CPI(M) MP KN Balalgopal, who was the member of the Select Committee, has moved some amendments.
3:57 pm: CPI's MP Achuthan is now speaking on the Lokpal Bill.
3:46 pm: "The country must reduce the suspicion of Public Servants. They do great service to this country," said Dr MS Gill.
3:41 pm: Congress MP Dr MS Gill said he supports the Bill, but had objection to bringing the Prime Minister under the Bill. He said that there were other mechanisms to carry out investigations against the Prime Minister of the country.
3:38 pm: Ravi Shankar Prasad took a dig at the government saying, "Better late than never, had this Bill been passed in 2011, it would have been better."
3:37 pm: "The person who becomes the Lokpal must understand the enormity of the power," Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
3:30 pm: "We are setting an example by bringing the Prime Minister under the purview of the Lokpal Bill," said Ravi Shankar Prasad.
3:28 pm: Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "Accused should not be informed about the prima facie case against him/her before investigation." He asked the government to reconsider the clause relating to this.
3:23 pm: Ravi Shankar Prasad also thanked Anna Hazare for his movement for the Lokpal Bill. However, he also took a dig at AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal saying, "We know what people who were once with Anna are now doing."
3:20 pm: Ravi Shankar Prasad took on the SP questioning how Lokpal Bill will lead to no work. "Corruption has spread as many administrators have not learned to say No," Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
3:17 pm: "Why has such a situation come that we need the Lokpal Bill. People have lost faith in politicians even as there are some honest politicians too," BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
3:15 pm: BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad is now speaking on the Lokpal Bill.
3:07 pm: NCP MP Dr Yogendra Trivedi spoke against Clause 6 of the Bill that says that before investigation, the accused must be told there is a prima facie case against him. "We think that this should not be the case as if the accused is told beforehand, he will destroy all evidence," Trivedi said. He also said NGOs must also be brought under the purview of the Lokpal Bill.
3:02 pm: NCP MP Dr Yogendra Trivedi is now speaking on the Lokpal Bill.
2:54 pm: BJD MP Baishnab Parida said that the Congress was trying to take the credit for bringing the Lokpal Bill.
2:53 pm: BJD MP Baishnab Parida is speaking on the Lokpal Bill.
2:40 pm: AIADMK MP Dr V Maitreyan said the Lokpal Bill had gained pace as a result of the UPA government's debacle in the assembly polls. "Consensus was reached in November 2011 on the Bill, but the UPA government slept over it. They got it now because of the assembly poll debacle," he said.
2:28 pm: JDU MP Shivanand Tiwari said that the Lokpal Bill alone cannot eradicate corruption as the gap between the rich and the poor has to be finished to completely remove corruption. However, he said that his party supports the Lokpal Bill. He said that there can be improvements and more steps to reduce the rich-poor gap in the society.
2:25 pm: JDU MP Shivanand Tiwari is now speaking on the Lokpal Bill.
2:23 pm: TMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy questioned as to why judges should be heading institutions like the Lokpal Bill. He said this citing the sexual harassment case against former Supreme Court Justice AK Ganguly. Concluding his statement, Roy thanked the government for accepting suggestions on the Lokpal Bill saying, "We support the Bill whole-heartedly."
2:15 pm: Trinamool Congress MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy is now speaking on the Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha.
1:38 pm: The Rajya Sabha has been adjourned for 30 minutes for lunch.
1:35 pm: CPI(M) MP Sitaram Yechury said NGOs should also be brought under the purview of the Lokpal Bill.
1:31 pm: CPI(M) MP Sitaram Yechury said that if the government bodies are under the purview of the Lokpal Bill, the private bodies must also be brought under it. He said even as the party supports the Lokpal Bill, keeping private organisations outside Lokpal must be reconsidered and the process of improving the law must be ongoing.
1:25 pm: CPI(M) MP Sitaram Yechury said it is good that parties have come to a consensus on the Lokpal Bill.
1:20 pm: "All states must adopt this Lokpal Bill," said BSP MP Satish Chandra Misra.
1:09 pm: BSP MP Satish Chandra Misra thanked the government for making changes to the Lokpal Bill. Misra also thanked the government for bringing reservation SC/St in the Lokpal Bill, saying this was not in any way unconstitutional.
1:05 pm: BSP MP Satish Chandra Misra is now speaking on the Lokpal Bill
12:58 pm: Arun Jaitley has slammed the SP for opposing the Lokpal Bill. "We must all strive together to pass this landmark Bill," he said.
12:56 pm: The Lokpal Bill is likely to be debated in Lok Sabha on Wednesday if it gets passed from Rajya Sabha today. A four-hour discussion has been fixed in the Lok Sabha on the bill. The Whistleblower Bill is also on the agenda.
12:50 pm: Appealing to the government to rethink on a point in the Lokpal Bill, Arun Jaitley said, "The jurisdiction of Lokpal should be on bodies related only to government revenues." Kapil Sibal clarified that this amendment has been made to the Lokpal Bill.
12:39 pm: Referring to the tearing of the Bill by a member in 2011, Jaitley said, We should not repeat what happened on December 29, 2011."
12:37 pm: Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley speaks on the Lokpal Bill. "It is good that the government that the government has come to terms with the change reality of India," Jaitley said.
12:33 pm: Reading out the recommendations of the Select Committee on the Lokpal Bill, Sibal said that Lokayukta in all states will be mandatory within one year of the Lokpal Bill becoming the law.
12:21 pm: Law Minister Kapil Sibal has initiated discussion on the Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha. "We hope the House creates history. Sometimes we have to rise above the political lines and listen to the voices outside the House and the way we have conducted ourselves in the past. Never has a Bill garnered so much public debate," Sibal said.
12:20 pm: The SP MPs have walked out of the Rajya Sabha opposing the Lokpal Bill.
12:15 pm: Speaking in the Rajya Sabha on the Lokpal Bill, SP MP Ram Gopal Yadav said, "In this Bill, any person can put in a complaint and we will have to go to police officers investigating the matter to give our statement. The lawmakers in that case will hesitate to take any decisions."
"This bill will lead to no work. Officers will hesitate in taking up work," Yadav said.
12:13 pm: The Rajya Sabha has taken up the Justice Ganguly issue. "Men in power misuse women and do their best to silent the voice of the women," TMC MP Derek O'Brien said.
"What is the message we are giving by not acting against Ganguly when the 3-member SC committee has said that his act was improper. There should be action against him," Derek added.
12:11 pm: Uproar continues as Rajya Sabha resumes. TMC MP Derek O' Brien has requested the Chairman to take up the Justice Ganguly matter in the House. The Chairman has refused and asked him to give a notice. The Chairman has meanwhile also asked SP leader ram Gopal Yadav to speak as the SP has been disrupting the House delaying the Lokpal Bill.
11:32 am: Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who also joined the meeting of SP leaders with the Prime Minister, is hopeful that the Lokpal Bill will be passed in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
11:19 am: SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and leader Ram Gopal Yadav have met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath and Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde were also present in the meeting.
11:05 am: The Rajya Sabha resumed on Tuesday with an uproar by the Samajwadi Party MPs over price rise even as Chairperson Hamid Ansari asked the government to initiate the discussion on the Lokpal Bill. The AIADMK and the TMC also protested against CHOGM summit and Justice AK Ganguly. The House has been adjourned till noon following the uproar.
Earlier on Tuesday, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi replied to anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare's letter on the Lokpal Bill saying the government was committed to the Bill. Anna had written to Rahul thanking him for his commitment to get the Lokpal Bill passed.
"Thanks to your 15th December letter. It was very encouraging. We are committed to giving a strong Lokpal to the country. We respect your role in it and thank you for the support," Rahul said in his letter.
Anna had in his letter to Rahul welcomed the government's move to bring the Lokpal Bill and requested him to incorporate the suggestions of the select committee. Sources say that Anna had also written a letter to BJP leader Arun Jaitley, thanking him for the same.
Sources say that Rahul has summoned Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath and MoS PMO V Narayanasamy to his residence to discuss the Lokpal issue and has asked them to ensure that the Lokpal Bill is passed on Tuesday itself.
"We just met Rahul Gandhi and he says that in all circumstances Lokpal Bill must be passed. We have persuaded SP and hope for the support," Kamal Nath said.
All eyes are now on the Rajya Sabha as it is set to debate the Lokpal Bill. Kamal Nath has said that all parties who attended the all-party meet have decided to pass the Lokpal Bill. The NDA added that the Bill can be passed even amidst protests hinting at the opposition from the Samajwadi Party.
With both Houses adjourned for another day on Monday, the window to get the Lokpal Bill passed has now shrunk to just four days forcing key government managers to swing into action.
"We are appealing to all parties to ensure the Bill is passed in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. All parties are of this view that it must be passed and they will speak to the SP," Kamal Nath said.
The Congress and its Vice President Rahul Gandhi are now attempting to put their stamp on the much awaited anti-graft law. After the resounding drubbing in four assembly polls, the urgency on the part of Congress is apparent and with Anna Hazare, for once striking a reconciliatory note, opposite to that of his disciple Arvind Kejriwal who is vociferously opposing it, the timing could not be more apt.
"I am with the government on this Bill. Let those who have problems with the Bill agitate," Anna said.
On Monday, last ditch efforts were being made to strike some sort of consensus on the long pending legislation. In the all-party meeting of floor leaders of the Rajya Sabha, the BJP and its allies offered to get the law enacted even by a voice vote as there has emerged a broad consensus on all the 15 recommendations of the select committee on Lokpal Bill. The BSP is also on board, but it is the Samajwadi Party, which still appears adamant.
"We are opposed to this bill and won't allow it to be passed," said SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav.
It remains to be seen whether the long struggle for the Lokpal is finally coming to an end? The Congress may now be attempting to claim credit for the bill to earn political dividends. But the question is whether it is too little too late.
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