Sonia’s adjournment motion likely today

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 5

In a fresh political assault on the Centre, Congress president Sonia Gandhi is likely to move an adjournment motion in Lok Sabha tomorrow to corner the government on its failure to fill key constitutional positions and retrieve black money from abroad despite repeated promises.

The adjournment motion expected to be brought by Sonia will question the Narendra Modi-led government on why it has not been able to fill the constitutional posts of Chief Vigilance Commissioner, the Lokpal and the Chief Information Commissioner.

Since September, India’s anti-graft watchdog the Chief Vigilance Commission has been working without a regular head and with one vacancy of the Vigilance Commissioner. Besides, the Lokpal is yet to be appointed.

Even in the Election Commission, two posts of Election Commissioners are presently vacant and the appointments are due.

Yet another constitutional position vacant as of now is that of the Chief Information Commissioner. The last CIC was Rajeev Mathur whose tenure ended in August 2014. The Commission created under the Right to Information Act, which Sonia personally pushed as the head of the Congress led UPA coalition, remains headless now for several months.

Congress sources said the adjournment motion would also corner the government on its empty promises around the black money retrieval. “The motion is really about the comprehensive failure of the Centre to prevent corruption. Every Constitutional Body meant to rein in graft is lying vacant and there has been no movement on either the Lokpal or the black money,” said a Congress strategist.

Sonia’s move would signal party’s new offensive against the BJP government which had in the run-up to Lok Sabha polls cornered the UPA government on corruption. The Congress now plans to turn the tables on the Centre by asking if it is serious about tackling graft at all.