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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Opposition finds Hazare faults by Radhika Ramaseshan

Opposition finds Hazare faults by Radhika Ramaseshan

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published Published on Aug 24, 2011   modified Modified on Aug 24, 2011

The BJP has slammed the Centre for mishandling Anna Hazare’s protest but signalled that it is not entirely on the side of the agitators and will take a nuanced stance on their demands.

The party said it rejected Hazare’s Jan Lokpal bill, would not take dictations from the Gandhian and his associates on a deadline to pass the bill and would not circumvent parliamentary procedures.

The government has convened a meeting of the floor leaders of all parties tomorrow to try and evolve a consensus on the conflicting demands on what the “perfect” Lokpal bill should be.

The BJP’s stand — expected to be articulated at the meeting to be held in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence — would come as a relief to a government caught between upholding parliamentary norms and seeking to end Hazare’s fast.

Hazare’s associates have said their version of the bill should be passed by August 30, failing which they have threatened to launch an “unprecedented” nationwide movement.

S.S. Ahluwalia, the BJP’s Rajya Sabha deputy leader, today outlined his party’s position and the reasons. “The government’s bill has neither a head nor a tail. It is toothless and betrays a lack of commitment to fight corruption. There are certain provisions in the Jan Lokpal bill (drawn up by Hazare’s team) that we agree with one hundred per cent. There are others that can be improved upon after discussions but there are some that are totally unacceptable to us. Therefore, the Jan Lokpal bill is unacceptable.”

Another key point made was that a standing committee was useful and not superfluous, as Hazare’s associates have suggested. “When the RTI (right to information) bill was introduced (in Parliament), doubts were voiced by various parties. But we discussed it at length and brought in 150 amendments. This is the accepted methodology,” Ahluwalia said.

He also took exception to the pressure the Hazare team was building on MPs of different parties to agree to the protesters’ point of view. “How can we just change our stand on a bill because the protesters want us to? Every MP is bound by his party line and whip.”

Sources said BJP cadres wanted their leaders to latch on to the Hazare bandwagon. But the bosses concluded that they should keep a “reasonable” distance from the protesters and do what is expected of a party “repositioning itself as the Congress’s national alternative”.

Such compulsions appeared to have come into play when Sri Sri Ravi Shankar requested L.K. Advani yesterday to mediate with Hazare for a resolution but was politely turned down.

Advani call

The BJP has distanced itself from Advani’s statement seeking Prime Minister Singh’s resignation and calling for a fresh mandate. Asked about it, Ahluwalia said: “The media distorted the whole thing. In any case, I am too small a person to say anything on it.”

BJP sources said Advani’s demands were his own and did not reflect the party’s stand. “If we drum up his (Singh’s) sack call again, we are scared it might recoil on us like it did earlier,” a source said, alluding to the way Advani’s “weak PM” jibes at Singh backfired in the 2009 general elections.

The party has decided that it would rather let Singh and the government “stew in their juices”.

The Telegraph, 24 August, 2011, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110824/jsp/nation/story_14417350.jsp


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