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Congress signal to Anna on meet-eve

-The Telegraph

 

The Congress today restated the government’s position of being opposed to including the Prime Minister and the higher judiciary in the ambit of the Lokpal bill, a day before Sonia Gandhi’s scheduled meeting with Anna Hazare.

Hazare and his team insist that the offices should come under the scrutiny of the ombudsman.

The BJP, which heard out Hazare and his colleagues today, made it clear that it will not “compromise” on the “independence” of the higher judiciary, but it did not spell out its stand on what it wanted regarding the Prime Minister’s Office.

Sources said the BJP, which had dissented with its own Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee when he was ready to be brought under the Lokpal’s ambit, would go along with this view.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said: “Our stand is very clear though it is not a conclusive stand because it is subject to the decisions taken by the Union cabinet and most importantly, to the collective will of Parliament. We are of the view that the two institutions of the Prime Minister and the judiciary should not be brought under the Lokpal’s ambit. If the (office of the) PM is brought under the Lokpal, it would lead to an inherent instability in democratic and parliamentary governance. It is not about an individual but an institution. We have to think of the stability of the institution.”

This is the first time the Congress has officially spoken on its stand on the Lokpal bill. So far, it had fielded questions with the stock response of being on the same page as the government.

Singhvi’s articulation indicated that Hazare’s visit to Sonia was likely to be “perfunctory” and conducted more out of a sense of courtesy than serious business.

“We hope some sense will prevail on him (Hazare) after the meeting,” said Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, who has criticised Hazare several times recently.

BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad, who briefed journalists on the two-hour meeting that Hazare and his team — Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Manish Sisodia — had with Opposition party leaders, said: “The choice of the person as a Lokpal is as important as the process by which he is chosen.” The BJP, Prasad said, also expressed its fears about the “over-arching” reach of the proposed bill and the “threat” that a centralised authority like the Lokpal might be “misused” to “harass” state governments that were perceived as “hostile” to the central government.

Party leaders L.K. Advani, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Murli Manohar Joshi, Rajnath Singh and Jaswant Singh were present. The BJP leaders also emphasised that the proposed bill should not deter MPs from working without “fear”.

The BJP with its NDA allies are expected to decide whether it will attend the all-party meeting on July 3, convened by the Prime Minister, to discuss Lokpal.