Lokpal row: Rajeev Shukla rubbishes Team Anna's allegations on Rahul, Sonia

New Delhi, Dec 11 (ANI): Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla on Sunday rubbished all allegations levelled against Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi and Congress President Sonia Gandhi of influencing the Parliamentary Standing Committee examining the Lokpal Bill, and said that the charges levelled against the two leaders of the ruling party were totally baseless and devoid of any logic.
"As far as the allegations are being made against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, I think these are totally baseless and incorrect. It is a blatant lie to say that Sonia Gandhi encourages corruption and keeps her lips sealed over it. It was Sonia Gandhi who facilitated Indians with Right to Information Act, and she got an agreement on the black money issue with 22 countries," said Shukla.
"Also, it was Sonia Gandhi and her National Advisory Council that first initiated the need for a Lokpal (Ombudsman). There was no such movement going on before that," he added.
Veteran social activist Anna Hazare's key aide Arvind Kejriwal had earlier in the day alleged that Rahul Gandhi influenced the Parliamentary Standing Committee, which examined the Lokpal Bill and submitted a report on it in the Parliament.
"The Standing Committee has recommended that the Lokpal should be granted a constitutional status because Rahul Gandhi wants that the Lokpal should be granted a constitutional status. As result of it, the Prime Minister has been ignored, Parliament has been ignored, and only one person has been followed," he told the gathering at the Jantar Mantar here.
Kejriwal said Parliamentary Standing Committee chairman Abhishek Manu Singhvi failed to include lower bureaucracy within the ambit of Lokpal after the latter was pulled by Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.
Shukla also hit out at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran Lal Krishna Advani and said that only chariot processions cant yield anything. He also accused the BJP of doing nothing when in power.
"The people of the country have to decide whether the person who took those three steps is correct or the people who just take out chariot processions, do absolutely nothing when in power, and are now sharing the stage with Anna are correct," he said, while criticising the BJP leaders for sharing the dais along with Hazare during the latter's one-day protest at the Jantar Mantar.
Further commenting on Hazare's daylong fast protest, Shukla said Team Anna should not jump the gun and should respect the parliamentary procedure.
"I think work should progress according to the legacy of the parliament. The all-party standing committee has given their report, which after being tabled in parliament will go to the related ministry and after that to the cabinet. Then when the bill finally comes in the parliament after that we should comment on it," said Shukla.
"People should not express opinions based on hearsay. First it will be discussed in the parliament and only then it can become a law. So, one should not react so quickly," he added.
Hazare sat on a daylong fast at the Jantar Mantar here to protest against the proposals of Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Lokpal Bill.
Hazare, who is fighting for a strong anti-graft bill, has been demanding that the lower bureaucracy should be brought within the ambit of the Lokpal besides provisions for Citizen's Charter and setting up of Lokayuktas under a central law.
The 74-year-old social activist has also warned the government that he would sit on an indefinite fast from December 27 at the Ramlila Maidan here if a strong Lokpal Bill is not passed in the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament.
The Lokpal Bill is seen as a weapon to root out corruption and nepotism from the government machinery and in public life.
The proposed Bill envisages the setting up of a national anti-corruption watchdog to check financial mismanagement and corrupt practices that have deeply pervaded several democratic and civic institutions of India.
Hazare had staged an indefinite hunger strike against graft that he gave up on August 28 when the government agreed to deliberate the issues raised by him and his forum vis-a-vis the passage and enactment of the Lokpal Bill, a suggestion that has received unprecedented nationwide backing. (ANI)

The Congress cannot be selective in taking credit.
If Sonia and Rahul claim credit for the Right to Information Act and the Black money agreement then she should also accept the brickbats for not passing a strong Lokpal bill.
What the Congress is envisaging to pass is a very weak Lok Pal bill which is totally ineffective. They are just trying to fool the people as they have been doing for the last 64 years.
First of all the CBI should work completely independently freed of the influence of the government in power and their cronies and criminal politicians. For that it should be under the Lok Pal.
Why shouldn't the PM also be brought under the Lok Pal. We have seen how successive chief ministers in Jharkhand like Shibu Soren and Madhu Koda have been jailed for criminal offences. Lalu Yadav with a criminal back-ground became a railway minister.He was but a step away from aspiring of becoming Prime Minister.