Will inclusion of PM in Lokpal’s ambit end graft, asks Mamata
June 21st, 2011 - 9:52 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, June 21 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said Tuesday that while she has no objection to bringing the prime minister’s office under the proposed Lokpal, she doubted that bringing any individual office will help in rooting out corruption.
“Do you think that the inclusion of one person will lead to the rooting out of corruption,” Banerjee asked at a crowded press conference here.
She was in Delhi to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other central leaders, a month after she was sworn-in to office May 20, ending the 34-year-long rule of the Left Front.
In her query about her position on the Lokpal bill, she asserted that the need of the hour was electoral reforms. “The election commission should be asked to start electoral reforms. I want state funding of elections. I am sure if there is state funding, it will curb corruption,” she said.
She suggested that there should be a performance review of bureaucrats, so that good and honest officials should be given more chance to work. She also said that vigilance mechanism should be strengthened.
“It is a continuous process… There should be a comprehensive package. It hardly matters whether prime minister or chief justice are brought under Lokpal, though I have no objections as such,” said Banerjee.
She however added that there had to be a “limit on jurisdiction”. “If they (civil society) say that all politicians are corrupt, you should tell them to join politics,” she said.
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Tags: ambit, bureaucrats, central leaders, chief justice, chief minister, corruption, election commission, electoral reforms, graft, june 21, mamata banerjee, manmohan, manmohan singh, New Delhi, objection, objections, prime minister manmohan, prime minister manmohan singh, vigilance, west bengal