New Delhi:
Senior BJP leader and MP Yashwant Sinha has said he will resign from the Lok Sabha if his party does not take a stronger stand on the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill.
Mr Sinha attacked his party at a meeting this morning of its MPs. He said the BJP's current position on the Bill is tough to justify in public.
Mr Sinha's comments come hours before an all-party meeting on the Lokpal Bill. Anna Hazare is on the ninth day of his hunger strike. The 74-year-old Gandhian wants his activists' version of the Bill to be introduced in Parliament. Team Anna says the government's version of the Bill, which was introduced a few days ago in Parliament, must be withdrawn.
The negotiations between the government and Anna's associates have made considerable progress since last evening. The government wants to convince Anna to end his fast today. One of the demands it has ceded to is that the Lokpal Bill will cover the Prime Minister's Office, which activists and the BJP have both listed as a non-negotiable.
A series of financial scandals that have forced resignations of ministers in the last few months have allowed the BJP and other Opposition parties to accuse the government of being permissive of venality.
When Anna announced his decision to fast earlier this month, the government in a gross miscue arrested him, then moved him to Tihar Jail. Across India, thousands protested. Anna was then allowed to set up his protest camp at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan, where huge crowds gather everyday, urging him to continue his movement against corruption.
The government has swung between attacking Anna, arresting him, and then urging his team to make peace - the inexplicable behavioral swings have gifted the BJP fresh expressions for attack.