NEW DELHI: The Congress on Tuesday again rejected Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attempt to rope in the Opposition party in setting up the anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal.
The Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, who had on March 1 refused to attend the meeting of the Lokpal selection panel, reiterated his position ahead of the meet on April 10.
A copy of the letter Kharge wrote to PM Modi was released to the media by the party on Tuesday.
Kharge’s main contention is that the government has not accorded him the official position of Leader of the Opposition but has been asking him to attend the meeting as a “special invitee”, which he claimed was against the provisions of the Lokpal Act.
Second, being a special invitee does not give Kharge any right to register his dissent on the names the government may propose for the Lokpal’s office.