Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday boycotted the Lokpal Selection Committee yet again, with the Congress’ leader in the Lok Sabha saying the government had not responded to concerns he had earlier raised in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On Tuesday, Kharge, who is a ‘special invitee’ to the committee, shot off another letter to Modi, saying the Centre had wasted four years in the fight against corruption by delaying the selection of the Lokpal.

He said assigning him the status of ‘special invitee’ was done with the singular intention of excluding the Opposition’s opinion from the selection process.

“The government is well aware that there is no provision in the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act for a special invitee to be a member of the Selection Committee. An invitation as a ‘special invitee’ without rights of participation, recording of opinion and voting in the procedure is only to mislead the nation and the people, rather than sincerely seeking the participation and opinion of the opposition. Therefore, to participate in this charade while your government runs roughshod over the intent and spirit of the Lokpal Act would amount to dereliction of my constitutional duty,” Kharge said in the letter.

He accused the Centre of double standards, citing an amendment to Delhi Special Police Establishment Act in 2014, so that the Leader of the largest Opposition party was made a member of the panel selecting the Director of the CBI.

“It is apparent that the appointment of Lokpal has not been accorded the same degree of importance or priority by your government. You would be aware that the Amendment Bills to the Lokayukta Act to include the Leader of Single Largest Opposition Party in the Selection Committee were moved and never approved by the Select Committee. Yet till date your government has never bothered to list the same for debate or voting. It is clear that the current exercise is merely a perfunctory gesture to assuage the letter of the Supreme Court’s direction,” he added.

He said the repeated conduct of the government in this matter both in the Supreme Court and during the process of appointment defeats the intent to honour the letter and spirit of the Lokpal Act. “If the government is, indeed, serious about ensuring that the Lokpal is appointed with the sancity it deserves, I would once again suggest that the government bring in the necessary amendment by way of an ordinance to include the voice of the opposition in this process. Under these circumstances, I must once again respectfully decline the invite as ‘Special Invitee’ to prevent any dilution of the letter and spirit of the Lokpal Act, 2013,” he added.

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