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Lokpal Bill: Cabinet likely to meet on Tuesday

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet is likely to meet on Tuesday to approve the contentious Lokpal Bill even as civil society leader Anna Hazare described the proposed government bill as "worthless and good for nothing".

The Cabinet meeting, initially planned for Monday evening, is likely to be held Tuesday morning, sources said.

Law Minister Salman Khurshid told reporters that the final draft of the bill will be scrutinised by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday night.

Khurshid spoke to media persons after a team of key ministers, including Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Khurshid and Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) V. Narayanasamy held a meeting for two-and-half hours on the anti-graft bill, sources said.

The ministers—all of them lawyers by training—scrutinised the bill for any loopholes, sources added.

The government may also be considering extension of the winter session of Parliament for three more days to facilitate detailed discussion of the Lokpal Bill and its passage, sources said. A final decision in this regard will be taken at the Cabinet meeting.

If Parliament is extended, then it will meet again December 27-29 after breaking for the Christmas holidays on December 22.

According to sources, the government bill is likely to bring the Prime Minister under the ombudsman with riders. The bill also will bring the prosecution wing of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the Lokpal purview, it is learnt.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister P.K. Bansal has already informed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) about the government's intention to extend the session.

Meanwhile, Hazare told reporters in Pune that the government's proposed bill was "worthless and good for nothing".

Hazare's plan to visit Delhi today has been cancelled, his aide informed.

The government as well as the ruling Congress are trying to forge a consensus on the Lokpal Bill and it will be presented in Parliament in the ongoing winter session, Minister of State for Planning Ashwani Kumar said.

"The government and Congress are trying to build consensus on the Lokpal by consulting its allies and parties in opposition," Ashwani Kumar said.

Union Minister Farooq Abdullah said Parliament should adopt caution while framing the Lokpal Bill so that "a super government to the government is not formed". — IANS

Jaya expels close aide Sasikala from AIADMK

CHENNAI: In a surprise move, AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa today expelled her close aide V K Sasikala and her husband M Natarajan besides 10 others from the party's primary membership.

The drastic action against Sasikala, who had enjoyed absolute confidence of Jayalalithaa was announced in a brief statement by the AIADMK chief, who also told her partymen not to have any truck with the expelled members.

Sasikala, also an AIADMK Executive Member, Natarajan and their relatives, including T T V Dinakaran and Jayalalithaa's disowned foster son V N Sudhakaran "are being expelled from all posts, including the party's primary membership,"she said.

Others shown the door are V Bhaskaran, S Venkatesh and Ravanan, all of whom were believed to have been calling the shots in the party after it won the April 2011 Assembly polls, besides M Ramachandran, Mohan, Kulothungan, Rajarajan and Divakar.

The expulsion comes days ahead of the meeting of the party's decision making bodies, the general council and the executive, on December 30.

The Jayalalithaa-Sasikala saga had been always a talking point in state political circles as the latter is seen with Jayalalithaa in most of her private and public appearances.

Sasikala is one of the accused in the disproportionate case relating to Jayalalithaa, who had appeared before a trial court in Bangalore recently. — PTI

President Zardari returns to Pakistan 

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday returned to Pakistan from Dubai, where he had gone almost a fortnight ago to seek treatment for a heart condition, triggering rampant speculation that he might be on the verge of resigning. Zardari, along with his daughter and personal staff, flew from Dubai to Karachi in a special aircraft that landed in a Pakistan Air Force base in the southern port city shortly after 1 AM (local time). The President drove in a motorcade from the airbase to Bilawal House, his family's private residence.

N Korean leader Kim Jong-il dead 

Seoul: Kim Jong-il, North Korea's mercurial and enigmatic leader, has died. He was 69. Kim's death was announced on Monday by state television from the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008 but appeared relatively vigorous in photos and video from recent trips to China and Russia and in numerous trips around the country carefully documented by state media. The leader, reputed to have had a taste for cigars, cognac and gourmet cuisine, was believed to have had diabetes and heart disease.