Patna, Aug. 30: The BJP today accused the Congress of adopting delaying tactics in getting the Lokpal Bill passed.

Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi singled out Rahul Gandhi’s zero hour intervention on the issue on Friday to allege that Congress was trying to lengthen the process. “Rahul Gandhi and some other Congress leaders are saying that Lokpal should be made a constitutional body like the Election Commission. Creation of such a body would be a cumbersome process as the Bill would require approval of not just two-thirds of both Houses of Parliament but also that of at least half of the state legislature. It would be a very time consuming process,” Modi told reporters during the post-janata darbar news briefing.

Modi said while concluding the special debate in Parliament, Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee never mentioned about such a proposal and he talked about the sense of the House, which was related to the three demands of Anna Hazare. “Now, efforts should be made to pass a Lokpal bill at the earliest. Efforts to pass a Lokpal bill have failed on eight occasions since 1960,” he said.

The three main demands of Hazare were related to a citizen’s charter for all government departments, inclusion of junior bureaucracy under the ambit of Lokpal and replication of the Lokpal model in all states. Modi took potshots at three members of the standing committee, which is looking into the various proposals of the Bill — Amar Singh, Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan. “I hope the committee would not get influenced by the opinion of the three members who have already expressed disagreement with what was being demanded by Team Anna,” he said.

The deputy chief minister also criticised Lalu Prasad’s speech in the Lok Sabha during the special debate, saying the RJD leader’s attempt to make a mockery of Hazare had sent a wrong message and that the majority of Bihar residents were feeling ashamed of what he said. “Laluji is a person who will never mend his ways,” Modi said.

Modi urged parliamentarians not to send a message, which might indicate that they were working in a vindictive manner by raising the issue of passing a privilege motion against Om Puri and Kiran Bedi, who made scathing remarks against politicians. “Parliamentarians should show a large heart and should not take any step which appears to be vindictive in nature,” Modi said, adding that respect should be commanded and not demanded.

Pointing to Hazare’s suggestions on electoral reforms, Modi said the issue of right to recall was also raised during the JP Movement and instead of rejecting such proposals, all political parties should look into them. “In Bihar, we have already made a beginning on this front and the provision of right to recall has been introduced in the municipal Act and the panchayati raj Act, using which people can recall ward councillors and mukhiyas respectively,” he said. On the issue of right to reject, Modi said this proposal too should be given serious thought.