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Patna,(BiharTimes): Holding the Congress party directly responsible for the defeat of the Constitutional Amendment Bill––purported to give constitutional status to Lokpal––in Lok Sabha on Tuesday Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said that it amounted to “moral defeat” of the Grand Old Party, which incidentally celebrated its 127th birthday on December 27 too. |
Before leaving for New Delhi on Wednesday he said that no political party had demanded the Constitutional Amendment Bill, which he added was the brainchild of the Congress.
Though the Congress does not have a simple majority on its own the passage of Constitutional Amendment Bill would have required support of two-thirds members of the Lok Sabha.
The chief minister said he was really surprised when the Constitutional Amendment Bill to give statutory status toLokpal was brought in, since nobody really understood what purpose would have been served by this Bill.
Maintaining that he was in favour of Lokpal, he said it still had a lot of flaws, which needed to be rectified and added that further changes would be made as there was a lot of scope for changes.
Attacking Congress for undermining the federal structure of the country he said the section related to Lokayuktas for the states in the Lokpal Bill was sufficient proof of it. The country needed Lokpal, but in the process of giving ombudsman to the country, care should also have been taken that the selection and appointment of Lokayuktas was better left to the states to respect federal structure of the country, he added.
Apart from other engagements in Delhi the chief minister met the Japanese prime minister, who is on a visit to India. Besides, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hosted a banquet for the visiting dignitary, in which he also participated.
Nitish would resume his Seva Yatra with a visit to Aurangabad on Thursday.
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