Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday hailed the passage of Lokpal Bill as a "historic and landmark" step to fight corruption.
Soon after Parliament approved the bill, Singh said, "It is a historic and landmark legislation and we are very happy that Parliament in its wisdom has chosen to enact this legislation." Sonia Gandhi said she was "very happy" over the passage of the bill. Terming the passage of the bill as a "big success", Rahul Gandhi said more needs to be done to fight corruption.
"If you want to actually fight corruption, we need a framework to fight corruption. The Congress party has bills in the pipeline that need to be passed," the Congress Vice President told reporters outside Parliament House.
"We had a big success here with the Lokpal bill. We had the RTI earlier and I think, that we should pass these bills that are pending in Parliament," he said.
He was apparently referring to the proposed legislations like Whistleblowers' Bill, Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill and Amendment to Prevention of Corruption Act among others. "I only want to say that one bill is not enough. We need to create an indepth framework. I have the entire framework written here. There are seven bills, which need to be passed," Gandhi said holding papers related to pending anti-corruption legislations in his hand.
The comments came after Parliament passed the crucial Lokpal Bill with the Lok Sabha adopting the measure as amended by the Rajya Sabha after a short discussion, amid the din created by pro- and anti-Telangana members.
Earlier, participating in a debate on the bill in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi sought extension of the Winter Session to pass six more bills which were "part of the comprehensive anti- corruption framework" of the UPA government.
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