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Cong questions Govt’s commitment to remove corruption, asks why Lokpal not appointed for last 4 yrs

Cong questions Govt’s commitment to remove corruption, asks why Lokpal  not appointed for last 4 yrs

New Delhi, July 19 (UNI) Questioning the claim of the NDA Government on removal of corruption, the Congress on Thursday asked why the Lokpal had not been appointed in the last four years. Initiating a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013, Mr Anand Sharma of the Congress said, ’’the NDA Government came to power at the Centre on the plank of removing corruption. However, in the last four years, the level of corruption has only increased and the corrupt are being sheltered. The number of cases of corruption have increased sharply. Also, in the last four years, no effort was made to appoint the Lokpal, which shows the Governemt’s lack of commitment to remove corruption.’’ He said that in 2014, an attempt was made by the BJP to portray the then UPA Government as ‘corrupt’. ‘’In the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, false charges of corruption were leveled against the UPA Government, in this process besmirching their reputation,’’Mr Sharma said. He said that in the last two years money going to Swiss Banks has increased. ‘’At the time of the Lok Sabha elections, you said Rs 15 lakh will be deposited into people's bank accounts but instead of that money went outside India. Infact, the BJP president recently said the promise of depositing Rs 15 lakh in the bank accounts of every Indian was a ‘jumla’,’’Mr Sharma said. Referring to the banking frauds in the country, he said people like Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi got support from the present government Mr Sharma said that the government agencies were being misused against the opponents of the ruling party. ‘’There are two kinds of laws in the country today - one for the opponents of the government while there is a different set of laws for the friends of the ruling dispensation. There are serious charges of corruption against Chief ministers of BJP ruled states but no action has been taken against them,’’ he said. Mr Sharma said that though many of the the suggestions of the Select committee for the Bill were accepted by the government, there were some lacunae in the present legislation. ‘’The present law provides for action against the officer charged of corruption after permission from the Lokpal. But the Lokpal has not been appointed which means no action will be taken. So the permission should be taken in this regard from the government. Also under the PMLA too much power have been given to the investigation agencies. For example can there be a parallel registration of cases by different agencies for the same offence? This is nothing but abuse of authority,’’Mr Sharma said. He said the government should tell the house how many corrupt persons have been booked by the investigating agencies. Mr Shwet Malik of the BJP said that it was because of the widespread corruption in the previous UPA Government that the people threw them out and brought the BJP to power in 2014. He said that it was a reflection of the steps taken by Prime Minister Modi against corruption that the Congress has been losing all elections since 2014 and now the BJP is in power in 20 states.
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