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Centre regains Lokpal nerve by Sanjay K Jha

The Centre is preparing to introduce its own version of the Lokpal bill following its assessment that Team Anna’s Jan Lokpal bill does not enjoy as widespread a support among experts as assumed initially.

A Parliament standing committee is looking into the bill now. Not all the panel’s recommendations may be accepted but the government has taken heart from the developments during the committee’s talks with various groups.

“We have interacted with more than 20 groups as well as constitutional experts, former Supreme Court chief justices and political parties, but none has so far supported the Jan Lokpal draft as it is,” a standing committee member told The Telegraph. “Most of those we have interacted with have serious objections to vital clauses of that draft.”

Another member said: “Experts have objected to the inclusion of the judiciary, lower bureaucracy and the Prime Minister without adequate safeguards.”

He added: “We realised during the deliberations that there was wider acceptability of the government’s draft, of course with certain changes. Many civil society groups have rejected some of Team Anna’s key suggestions.”

Rahul Gandhi’s suggestion about making the Lokpal a constitutional body has apparently found support and the government is working on the idea.

By declaring its intent to make new legislation to address corruption in the lower bureaucracy, the Centre has made it clear that the Lokpal’s ambit will be restricted to the higher echelons. Nor will the judiciary be included.

No decision has been taken on the Prime Minister but if the post is included, there will be strong safeguards.

Law ministry sources said Team Anna’s suggestion to merge the CBI with the Lokpal has found no support, either.

On the whole, the Centre doesn’t plan to accommodate much of Team Anna’s views beyond the point reached at the joint drafting committee.

The government and the Congress believe that tackling Team Anna will become easier as, according to them, it is becoming clearer by the day that the group is working on a political agenda devised by the RSS.

Congress leaders claim the group’s “real intent” has been exposed through its decision to enter the electoral battlefield in Hisar and in next year’s Assembly polls.

Party leaders allege that Hazare had to change his plan of not campaigning against the Congress only because the elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat are crucial for the BJP.

While Uttar Pradesh is key to the BJP’s revival at the national level, the party is struggling to hold on to power in the other four states and would like to make the most of the “Anna effect”, they claim.

“I have always said that Anna and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar are part of an RSS plan, as was Baba Ramdev,” Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh said.

He later clarified in an interview that Anna was being misled by aides such as Arvind Kejriwal while the two religious gurus belonged to the RSS stable.

Congress leaders point to Hazare’s enthusiastic response to BJP-ruled Uttarakhand’s “opportunistic” adoption of his version of the Lokayukta, and question Team Anna’s silence on the BJP government’s “looting” of the state.

They say Hazare and his team plan to highlight the BJP’s positive aspects and ignore the skeletons in its cupboard. Few in the Congress mind this, saying such behaviour can only bring Hazare’s credibility under a cloud.

Digvijaya said the so-called Anna effect would yield “zero result” in Uttar Pradesh. “Let’s see whose corruption they highlight in UP,” he said.

The Congress believes that if Team Anna targets the party in the heartland state without attacking Mulayam Singh Yadav or Mayawati on corruption, it will lose credibility.

Congress leader Shakil Ahmed argued that Team Anna had escaped with its “duplicity” in Hisar but the people of the five poll-bound states are bound to ask uncomfortable questions as they know whose corruption is hurting them.

“The candidate who gained the maximum in Hisar was Abhay Chautala, a chargesheeted person known for his corrupt practices,” Shakil said.

“We will see if these people campaign to help the thoroughly corrupt governments in UP, Uttarakhand and Punjab too.”