India: Winter session of Parliament ends without passing Lokpal Bill

New Delhi, Dec 30 (PTI) The Lokpal (Ombudsman) Bill yet again failed to get the nod of India's Parliament when its upper house Rajya Sabha last night adjourned sine die abruptly amid high drama and Opposition accusing the government of running away from a vote because it was in a minority. The Trinamool Congress, a constituent of the ruling United Progressive Alliance which had moved a slew of amendments and gave the government torrid time when it vowed to vote against the bill, called the adjournment an "orchestrated chaos", almost echoing the Opposition view that it was "choreographed drama". The Bill, which was passed in the Lok Sabha, lower house of Parliament, on Wednesday after eight failed moves since 1968, appeared jinxed throughout the day when it seemed that the government was not able to muster a simple majority required for its passage. The problems of the ruling coalition, which has 93 members in a 243-member House, grew after one of its constituents Trinamool Congress (6) and outside supporters BSP (18), SP (6) and RJD (4) made it clear that they will vote against the Bill. Trinamool Congress and Opposition parties like BJP and the Left had moved amendments for deletion of Part III of the Bill related to the appointment of Lokayukta (ombudsmen atthe states level), saying it infringed the federal structure of the country. The BJP and the Left also wanted the investigating agency CBI to be part of the Lokpal. On a day marked by conspiracy theories in the corridors of Parliament, the government tried to persuade the allies and outside supporters to avoid a vote which looked it was sure to lose. And when the time for voting came, Parliamentary Affairs Minister P K Bansal suddenly came up with a request to the Chair for time to consider the 187 amendments that had been moved by the various parties. Smelling a rat in the government strategy, Leader of Opposition in the house Arun Jaitley said the government was running away from the House because it was in a "hopeless minority". "A government which did not have the numbers in the House has consciously first choreographed a debate so that it cannot not be concluded before the 12 O' Clock," he said. Jaitley told Bansal that they will sit the whole night to transact the bill. He said the government has "no right to continue in office even for a minute". Minister of State for Personnel V Narayanasamy later defended the move to adjourn the Rajya Sabha sine die saying, "We have to study the 187 amendments brought by Opposition parties as most are overlapping. Some amendments relate to only a part of a clause and not the entire clause, some demand removing the entire part of the Bill." Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill, 2011 was "alive" and will remain on the Rajya Sabha register. "It will be cleared in the (next) Budget session," he added. PTI