Prashant Bhushan challenges CM to Lokpal debate

Rebel leader warns of stir outside Assembly

A day after terming the Aam Aadmi Party government’s flagship citizen’s ombudsman bill as “mahajokepal,” former senior party leader Prashant Bhushan on Sunday challenged chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to a public debate on the Janlokpal Bill even as he warned of a stir outside the Delhi Assembly on Monday when the proposed legislation is tabled.

The senior advocate said that the agitation will be held under the aegis of Swaraj Abhiyan, a group floated by him along with Yogendra Yadav after their expulsion from the AAP.

The fledgling outfit, which is a self-professed “non-political” forum, has taken issue with the 2015 Janlokpal Bill and has targeted the AAP over it.

Although there was no immediate response or reaction from the AAP on Mr Bhushan’s allegations, the ruling party had earlier rubbished the Supreme Court lawyer’s claims, charging that he was speaking against the bill at the behest of the Opposition BJP.

Slamming the bill, Mr Bhushan said, “We were shocked to find that the present bill is against every principle on the basis of which the anti-corruption movement fought for the institution of janlokpal. It proposes a lokpal that is to be completely controlled by the government.”

The AAP, however, claims that the bill is identical to the draft prepared during the Anna Hazare movement and the 2014 bill that it had tried to introduce in the Delhi Assembly.

“Mr Kejriwal should come and debate this in public. It will expose the fraud with the people of the country and the anti-corruption movement. If you have actually copied from Janlokpal Bill 2014 or the Uttarakhand bill, then what took you so long Why did Arvind keep on tweeting that he is drafting the bill ” Mr Bhushan asked. Former Union law minister Shanti Bhushan, too, hit out at Mr Kejriwal and likened him to Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda minister of the infamous Hitler regime.

“This Goebbels is the CM of Delhi. He had said he will slash the salaries of MLAs by half, but has instead raised it by two-and-a-half times,” Bhushan Senior charged.

Mr Bhushan said the AAP’s stand reflected the blame-game politics that is commonly associated with parties like the BJP and the Congress.

“The AAP’s strategy has become the same. I have already filed a petition in the Supreme Court for a stronger and more transparent lokpal at the Centre and for its immediate appointment. What are they saying ” he asked.

However, Mr Bhushan said he should not have lashed out at AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha during a TV debate over the issue. “When someone comes up with such allegations and lies brazenly, you naturally get angry. Sometimes there is an outburst, but I still think such outbursts are not correct. You say certain things out of anger but the circumstances have to be considered as well,” he said.