By Prashant Sood

New Delhi, June 19 (IANS) As the debate on the Lokpal bill continues to rage, Congress general secretary B.K. Hariprasad has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of "outsourcing" its responsibility as the opposition to "so-called civil society".

Hariprasad, Congress in-charge of Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, said the BJP had "outsourced its responsibility as the party has no face".

He termed yoga guru Baba Ramdev a "mukhota (mask) of the BJP and Sangh Parivar" and said Anna Hazare was backed by the opposition party.

He said the BJP had been routed in the April-May polls to five state assemblies and was given a befitting reply by people.

"The BJP thought the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) will become a permanent affair in the country. After losing 2004, 2009 (general elections) and 2011 (assembly polls), they have realised that coming back to power is a distant dream," Hariprasad told IANS in an interview.

"What did they do to bring black money when the NDA was in power?" he asked.

"The BJP is talking about the Lokpal bill but its chief ministers are not coming up with suggestions," he said.

On the stance of civil society members that people were masters in a democracy, he said: "The government is not a master, but parliament is supreme."

He said civil society cannot dictate terms to elected representatives and legislation has to be debated in parliament.

"In a democratic set-up, it is for parliament to debate laws. The government has gone all out to hear (civil society activists), but they can't dictate terms. The government is answerable to the people and parliament," he said.

Hariprasad, 56, also defended the controversial post-midnight police action June 4 to evict Baba Ramdev and his supporters from the Ramlila ground in the national capital, but apologised "for injuries to women".

"The action by policemen was right. There was a sinister plan to disturb peace. They wanted to create a Godhra kind of situation in Delhi.

"There was an attempt to overthrow the government. (Sadhvi) Rithambara was not there to teach yoga!" he added.

Hariprasad, a former MP, maintained that the situation was not mishandled by police. "When the government takes action, we stand by that. It is an administrative matter to take appropriate action."

Hariprasad said governments were elected by the people.

"The verdict of people cannot be humiliated by a gathering of 10,000 to 100,000 people in the name of civil society," he said.

Hariprasad said party chief Sonia Gandhi had taken a major step to fight corruption in the form of the Right to Information Act.

"We do not have better models than Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi to fight corruption. There is no need of Ramdev and Anna Hazare," Hariprasad added.

"She (Gandhi) has shown to the world that corruption is not tolerated in the Congress. The action taken by the Congress is evident whereas the BJP has not taken action against its leaders and chief ministers," he said.

Asked about differences between the party and the government on four union ministers going to meet Baba Ramdev at the Delhi airport June 1, he said it was a "disinformation campaign" by the Sangh Parivar.

"Ministers had not gone to receive him but to meet him at the airport lounge since police said it was a safer place to meet compared to other places. There are no differences between the government and the party on the issue," he said.