New Delhi:
In Maharashtra, anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare has threatened to launch a new mass movement to protest against what he describes as the government's intent to deliver a weak Lokpal Bill - the basis of a new law intended to counter graft.
Anna is unhappy that three key demands of his - the inclusion of the Prime Minister in the ambit of the Lok Pal, and the inclusion of the lower bureaucracy and a citizen's charter have not found their way into a draft of the Bill prepared by a parliamentary panel.
One of the most contentious issues in the Lokpal Bill is whether the Prime Minister's office should be within the anti-corruption ombudsman's ambit. In Delhi, the last meeting of the parliamentary standing committee drafting the Bill ended today, with no consensus on this key point.
Sources said the overwhelming sense was for the PM to be included in some form or the other. Of the 30 members of the committee, 19 were present at today's meeting. And among those present, eight MPs, mainly from the BJP, the Left and the BJD want the inclusion of the PM within the Lok Pal's ambit. Six MPs, mainly from the Congress want the PM included after he demits office. And five MPs, from parties like the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party and one even from the Congress, wanted the PM excluded entirely.
The draft Bill accessed by NDTV has so far remained absolutely silent on the issue. The panel is meeting for its last round of discussions to look for a consensus within the group of MPs from different parties as they wind up the deliberations, the chairman of the committee Abhishek Manu Singhvi told NDTV yesterday.
The BJP MPs have also backed Anna Hazare's demand that the citizens' charter be included under the Lokpal. Sources said the BJP was likely to give a dissenting note on the exclusion of the lower bureaucracy and the citizen's charter in the committee's draft.
The panel's draft is not binding on the government.
The Lok Pal Bill was referred to the standing committee on August 8 this year, after protests by Team Anna against provisions in the Bill drafted by the government. The panel also studied Team Anna's Jan Lok Pal draft.