Kharge skips Lokpal selection panel meet

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday skipped a meeting of the Lokpal Selection Committee, accusing the Modi government of reducing the "sacred procedure" to a "political pretence" by asking him to be present as a mere "special invitee".

The Lokpal Selection Committee meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh. Singh is a special invitee to the committee.

"The meeting lasted for about 90 minutes," a senior government official told DH without divulging details on the deliberations.

The meeting was called to finalise the name of an eminent jurist who would be part of the selection committee as mandated by the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013. The UPA had appointed senior advocate P P Rao as the eminent jurist member of the selection committee in February, 2014. Rao passed away in September last year and the slot is yet to be filled.

In a letter to the prime minister on Wednesday, Kharge said that asking him to attend the meeting as a special invitee was against the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, as the objective of the law reflected that the leader of the Opposition could not be substituted as a special invitee.

"A more apt and statesman-like conduct is expected from the prime minister of the country," the Congress leader said in a two-page letter.

Kharge said his presence at the meeting as special invitee without rights of participation, recording of his opinion and voting would be a "mere eyewash" ostensibly aimed at showcasing the participation of the Opposition in the selection process.

"...I must respectfully decline the invite as 'Special Invitee' to uphold the inviolability of the Lokpal Act, 2013, as the current proceedings have reduced the sacred procedure to a political pretence," Kharge said in a letter to the prime minister dated February 28.

He said the 'Special Invitee Invitation' was a concerted effort to exclude the independent voice of the Opposition altogether from the selection process of the most important anti-corruption watchdog.

The government had told the Supreme Court last month that the process to select the Lokpal had been set in motion and a meeting of the selection committee was scheduled on March 1.