Withdraw Govt's Lokpal Bill from Parliament: CPM

New Delhi: With impasse over hunger strike by Anna Hazare continuing, CPI(M) on Thursday asked government to give an assurance that the Lokpal Bill it had introduced in Parliament would be withdrawn and a new one incorporating suggestions from Jan Lokpal Bill and others would be brought.

"The mechanism for drafting this new bill must be worked out by government and, on the basis of this assurance, Anna Hazare must withdraw his hunger strike", senior party leader Sitaram Yechury said.

He said the government "must give the assurance that the Bill that it had introduced in Parliament will be withdrawn and a new bill incorporating the suggestions from the Jan Lokpal Bill and other quarters will be brought before Parliament".

In an editorial in the forthcoming issue of 'People's Democracy', Yechury said though the Prime Minister stated in Lok Sabha that all view-points on the Lokpal issue would be considered, "no concrete shape of the mechanism that will undertake this task has been outlined".

"This is not surprising given the government's knee-jerk handling of this entire issue during the past few months. In the interests of the country, the Constitution and parliamentary democracy, the government must immediately bring a new bill that will be both strong and effective", he said.

The unanimous appeal by all parties to Hazare to withdraw his hunger strike in response to government's assurance that it would come with a final draft including suggestions of the Jan Lokpal Bill "has not produced the desired result so far" and the impasse and uncertainty continues, he added.