Agencies, New Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh today said the Centre has rejected the proposal to keep the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) out of the government control which shows that the government ‘’was not serious’’ in fighting against corruption.
‘’The BJP will continue its struggle for the CBI’s autonomy. The BJP from the beginning has been in favour of a strong law against corruption,’’ Mr Singh told reporters here. The newly-elected BJP chief alleged that the government does not want to keep the CBI out of its control. Mr Singh sought to know how can a strong and effective Lokpal be made if the government ‘’does not want to give the probe agencies autonomy.’’ ‘’The CBI’s autonomy is must for an effective Lokpal,’’ he added. He alleged that the Congress-led UPA government has kept the CBI under its control as the government wanted to misuse the probe agency for political purpose. The BJP has been saying that security of tenure for the CBI Director and absence of allurement for future appointment was the key of autonomy of the country’s premier probe agency.
The Union Cabinet yesterday gave its nod to a majority of the recommendations made by the Rajya Sabha Select Committee on the Lokpal Bill. The government has delinked the appointment of Lokayuktas in states from the legislation. A day after a meeting of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, the BJP’s top brass will meet here today to discuss various issues including current political situation of the country and the general elections scheduled to be held in 2014.
It will be the first core group meeting after Rajnath Singh took over as the party president last week. The BJP sources said the meeting will take place at 1730 hrs at the party headquarters. The sources said the BJP leaders are also likely to discuss the political ‘crisis’ in Karnataka and the upcoming national council meet of the party.
‘’Organisational restructuring ahead of the assembly polls in several states this year and the general elections next year are also likely to be discussed,’’ the sources added. The RSS, the VHP and the BJP met yesterday and discussed a number of issues. The meeting was attended by the BJP chief, senior party leaders L K Advani and Sushma Swaraj, RSS leaders Bhaiyaji Joshi and Suresh Soni and VHP leaders Ashok Singhal and Praveen Togadia. According to the BJP sources, in the meeting the VHP stressed to shift focus again to the issue of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. The temple issue was once the BJP’s core political agenda.
