Bhushans should join BJP, says AAP after criticism of Janlokpal Bill

New Delhi: Hitting back at Shanti and Prashant Bhushan, AAP on Saturday claimed that they were opposing the Janlokpal Bill at the behest of BJP and asserted that the proposed legislation was similar to the one tabled by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during his previous 49-day tenure.

Rejecting criticism by Bhushans who termed the anti-graft legislation as 'Maha Jokepal' and alleged that the provisions had been diluted and tweaked to "provoke" the Centre, the ruling party in Delhi said the father-son duo should now join the BJP.

Launching the counter-attack, AAP fielded its spokesperson Raghav Chadha, who had once hosted a Google Hangout on Janlokpal Bill with Prashant's father Shanti Bhushan, one of the key faces during the Anna movement.

"This is the same bill which was introduced by the AAP government (during its 49-day rule). Prashant ji was fine when the same bill was introduced during the AAP's last government," Chadha said

"Why did he not raise any issue at the time? Now that the BJP is in power, he does not want the Lokpal to investigate the Centre. He should join the BJP and also make public relations between (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley and the Bhushans.

"He should first ask his party (the BJP) to appoint  a Lokpal at the Centre" he said, adding that it was (Prashant) Bhushan who had pushed for registering an anti-corruption case with the Delhi ACB against the then Union Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily and Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani.

AAP's Delhi unit secretary Saurabh Bharadwaj said by opposing to bring the Centre under Delhi's Lokpal ambit, Bhushan was "batting for the BJP".

Prashant Bhushan and Yogender Yadav, both founder members of the AAP were sacked for "anti-party activities" after they fell out with the leadership. However, no action was taken against Shanti Bhushan.

In a news conference held today, Prasahant Bhushan accused Kejriwal of playing the "biggest fraud" on people by diluting the provisions of the Jan Lokpal draft of the Anna movement while Shanti Bhushan demanded the Delhi CM's resignation.

Prashant read out certain provisions of the Janlokpal draft Bill, that is yet to be made public by the Delhi government. He claimed that Ministers and officials of the Centre were put under the ambit of the proposed legislation "deliberately" to provoke confrontation with the Centre.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh accused Bhushan of "misleading" people over the Janlokpal Bill. Another party leader Ashutosh said, "First he (Bhushan) tried to defeat the AAP at the behest of Arun Jaitley and now he has objections on Lokpal." Meanwhile, Chadha said that the Bill will be tabled in the Assembly on Monday.