New Delhi:
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh used a Parliament debate on corruption to make a direct appeal to Anna Hazare today, requesting that he should end his 10-day-long fast. He said Mr Hazare had "registered his point", but his life was too precious.
Dr Singh saluted Mr Hazare's effort to bring up the scourge of corruption, acknowledged the people's disgust and assured that he would do everything he could to clean up the system. He also proposed what he said seemed the most apt solution to the Lokpal impasse: He suggested that Parliament discuss all draft bills in the public domain - the government's, Team Anna's Jan Lok Pal Bill, the Bill drafted by civil activist Aruna Roy and her associates and others - and take the best points from each and send them to the Standing Committee.
The PM made clear that in any solution "parliamentary democracy" is supreme, but that the government was "open to all suggestions and ideas" to ensure "we have the best possible Bill to tackle corruption." His appeal came at the end of a passionate 20-minute speech in which Dr Singh said he was hurt at the Oppositions allegations against him.
On the suggestion of Leader of Opposition, the BJP's Sushma Swaraj, the Lok Sabha too appealed to Mr Hazare to end his fast. Earlier this morning, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also said he is concerned about the crisis that centres upon the 74-year-old Anna's hunger strike.
But at the Ram Lila Maidan, Anna Hazare has as yet shown no sign of calling his fast off despite warnings from doctors that he is not in great shape.
Talks between Anna Hazare's aides and the government have skidded into dangerous territory, but the Prime Minister told reporters today that he is "hopeful of finding a solution." Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also said he is concerned about the crisis that centres upon 74-year-old Anna's hunger strike, now in its tenth day.
(Read: Who is Anna Hazare?)After three earlier rounds, the last of which ended in disarray last evening, there will be a fourth round of negotiations today - Team Anna, sulking as it is, says it will attend. The time of the meeting is not known yet. The government will go into this round with the PM's clear message - that "parliamentary democracy cannot be undermined."
The government has deputed Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Law Minister Salman Khursheed to negotiate a compromise with Anna's aides. Last night, three of Anna's representatives emerged from a mediation session with the grim conclusion that "talks are back to Square One." They also said that the ministers had said that how to end Anna's fast is "his problem."
Both Mr Khursheed and Mr Mukherjee say that is a distortion of what really transpired. They also suggest that Anna's reps - Prashant Bhushan, Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi - took a more extreme position last night than they had in earlier talks. "We had agreed that we would take steps today that would convince Anna to end his fast," said Mr Khursheed this morning. "I don't know how they suggested that we don't care about Anna's health. Our doors are open for all talks."
But Mr Khursheed also vented his frustration with the activists. "It seems those who were skeptical about us holding these talks have been proved right...I'm willing to have talks with them. If they don't want it, why should they blame anyone else?" he asked.
Anna's doctors are worried about his health and are checking his blood pressure and other vitals every two hours. The government has prepared an emergency evacuation plan for the activist, but says it will enforce this only upon the advice of Anna's doctors, led by Dr Naresh Trehan. There will be a blood test in the evening.
Mr Kejriwal said this morning "We are victims of Congress politics." He said Mr Khursheed last night informed him that there's a divide within the Congress over whether to engage with the activists. Mr Kejriwal blamed senior ministers P Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal for suggesting to the government that negotiations with Team Anna are not merited. Mr Khursheed did not deny this. "My cabinet colleagues did not want me to hold talks. They were probably right. We hold talks and it leads to this," he said with some measure of bitterness.
The government and Anna are battling over whose legislation on a new important bill to tackle corruption should be considered by Parliament. The Lokpal Bill creates a new independent agency (Lokpal) to investigate charges of corruption among public servants. The government's version has been introduced in Parliament; it is designed to under-achieve, says Team Anna. The activists have drafted their own version which they refer to as the Jan Lokpal Bill or People's Lokpal Bill. Team Anna wants the government to withdraw the Lokpal Bill and put the Jan Lokpal Bill to debate in Parliament. The government says that's not possible because it violates parliamentary processes. So it has offered to send the Jan Lokpal Bill to the same parliamentary committee that's received the government's Lokpal Bill.
According to the government, both sides had agreed when negotiations began on Tuesday that a draft that combined Anna's suggestions with the government's bill may be the way forward. However, last night Team Anna discarded this option, insisting that its Jan Lokpal Bill be considered in its entirety by Parliament.
At a meeting attended by the leaders of all political parties last evening, the Left and the BJP agreed that the government should bench its version of the bill and introduce a new draft that incorporates features from Anna's version as well as suggestions by other civil rights activists like Aruna Roy. However, different parties also emphasized that while it is critical to reach a truce so that Anna ends his fast, the government should ensure that parliamentary procedure is not subverted. This direction from the Opposition may have emboldened the government to take a firmer stand with Team Anna at last night's meeting.
What Team Anna wants is for their version to be introduced in Parliament within four days; and then put to vote and passed (with amendments, if needed) before this Parliament session concludes on September 8. Mr Khursheed denied that this had earlier been considered by the government. "Did we earlier say we would hand over Parliament to them and later we said no?" he asked.