New Delhi: A day after the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha, Congress Parliamenatry party leader Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday led the charge against the legislation claiming that the Centre was hell-bent on subverting the RTI Act even as the entire Opposition came together to sign a resolution asking for the Bill to be sent to a select committee in the Rajya Sabha.
“It is a matter of utmost concern that the central government is hell-bent on completely subverting the historic RTI Act, 2005. This law, prepared after widespread consultations and unanimously passed by Parliament, now stands at the brink of extinction,” she said.
At a meeting of Oppo-sition parties in the morning and again in the afternoon on Tuesday, Opposition parties decided to move a resolution seeking that the Bill be sent to a select committee. The parties which have signed the resolution moved by the Trinamul Congress include besides the Congress, SP, BSP, RJD, TDP, PDP, CPI and CPI(M).
A senior Opposition leader said that the Opposition parties have a two-pronged strategy and in case the government does not want to refer it to a select committee, they will move amendments separately.
Trinamul Congress leader Derek O’Brien said, “If you do not have standing committees, then form a select committee”.
“We are talking to other parties with a strong regional presence like TRS and YSR Congress. They are trying to turn a parliamentary form of government in to a Presidential system,” he said.
