Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Sunday made it clear that though Team Anna has a right to voice its differences on various aspects of Lokpal Bill, the final word lies with Parliament on passing laws.
The Congress core committee has rejected the demand made by Team Anna to withdraw the Lokpal bill from Parliament and replace it with the Jan Lokpal bill.
The Parliamentary panel examining the Lokpal Bill on Monday began finalising its report with a large section of members favouring enacting a single law to set up the anti-corruption ombudsman at the Centre and the states.
Government on Thursday said it was "irrevocably" committed to making the proposed Lokpal a constitutional authority, criticising attempts by some people to "mislead" the nation on this issue.
Congress top brass on Friday left the contentious issue of bringing the prime minister within the ambit of Lokpal to the government to decide.
Yet another instance of the sharp divisions between Union ministers and Team Anna members came to surface when they discussed structure and powers of the proposed Lokpal during their meetings.
The new draft aimed at checking political and administrative corruption, which was presented to the government at the joint drafting committee meeting on Lokpal, retained the original provision to bring judges of the higher judiciary within the ambit of the Lokpal, notwithstanding the reservations of anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare.
"Parliamentary Affairs Minister P K Bansal had said the discussion on the Lokpal Bill will only take place on Monday. But to our utter surprise we got a call that Sandeep Dikshit (Cong MP) will initiate the debate on Lokpal in five minutes. The government wanted a casual debate on such an important and serious issue," Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said.
Union Minister Salman Khurshid on Monday slammed Aam Admi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal for his opposition to the Lokpal Bill even after anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare supported it.
"We propose to cover organisations like ISRO and arms deals under the purview of Jan Lokpal as they are important from internal security angle, besides the Prime Minister above all who will come under its jurisdiction," Karnataka Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde, part of the 10-member Joint Drafting Committee on Lokpal Bill, told media persons in Bengaluru.
"I have a given a notice for discussion on Lokpal in the Rajya Sabha. The Business Advisory Committee will decide on the date for discussion," Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions V Narayanasamy told PTI.
Unfazed by the resistance from the government and some quarters to the civil society's demand for inclusion of prime minister in the ambit of the proposed Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare on Tuesday asserted he would not hesitate to fight against Opposition parties that did not support a strong anti-corruption ombudsman.
Seeking to give a big push to the Lokpal Bill, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday appealed to all political parties to support the legislation saying it is a "very very powerful instrument" in the fight against corruption.
The committee headed by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar is meeting later on Thursday to adopt its draft report in what is likely to be hotly contested by opposition members of the panel.
Rejecting the recommendations of the parliamentary panel on Lokpal Bill, Team Anna on Wednesday claimed that they will not have any impact on corruption and will instead dismantle the existing anti-graft mechanism.
The Aam Aadmi Party government's plans to enact the Jan Lokpal Bill in a public venue next week faced fresh hurdles with Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran insisting that Lt Governor's prior approval is necessary while key ally Congress toughened its opposition.
Eminent jurist and former Advocate General of India Soli Sorabjee on Sunday opposed demands to bring higher judiciary under the proposed Lokpal Bill, saying they could be "judged" only by an authoritative body of experts.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is all set to skip the all party meeting on Lokpal convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on July 3, a party source has said.
In an interview with Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde, one of the members of the Joint Drafting Committee if the Lokpal Bill, sets the record straight on why the talks broke down.
'The CBI and its independence was discussed in great detail. We invited and sought the views of the CBI director as well as several government officials. But the ingenious solution to the problem came from within the committee. The effort was to somehow find a solution. It would not have been possible to draft this Bill if members had not been liberal in their views and if they had not been prepared to rid themselves of their political bias.' Congress MP Satyavrat Chaturvedi, who headed the Parliamentary committee which proposed the recommendations for the Lokpal Bill, speaks to Anita Katyal in an exclusive interview.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday called on President Pratibha Patil and briefed her about the consensus resolution passed in Parliament on Lokpal Bill.
On the eve of introduction of a new Lokpal bill in Parliament, Shiv Sena on Wednesday appealed to political parties to stop a "new Gaddafi" from taking birth.
A Team Anna member said the working group of the Team Anna met to discuss the situation against the backdrop of the moves by the government
The text of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's opening remarks at the all party meeting on Lokpal Bill
Alleging that the Congress government at the Centre was cheating Anna Hazare on the Lokpal Bill issue, Baba Ramdev on Tuesday said that he would campaign against the parties opposing to bring back the black money stashed away in foreign banks.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress were at loggerheads on Wednesday over the government's move to appoint a jurist to Lokpal selection panel with the main opposition approaching President Pranab Mukherjee to press its demand for a consensus on such an issue.
Rashtriya Janata Dal's Lalu Prasad was the odd man out in the Lok Sabha on Saturday when he questioned the need for a debate on the Lokpal issue saying a bill in this regard was already before a Parliamentary Standing Committee.
The biggest problem today is that all political parties have become united, which is disastrous to the cause, says Justice Santosh Hegde.
Amid Anna Hazare's agitation on the Lokpal issue, a Parliamentary Standing Committee going into the Lokpal Bill on Sunday gave signals that it could "surprise" all those skeptical or cynical about the outcome of the exercise.
Bringing the office of Prime Minister under the ambit of Lokpal would "not be advisable", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Sunday.
With certain political parties launching 'yatras' ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, Team Anna member Kiran Bedi has said such yatras have no meaning without the passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill.
Government has so far not carried out a full assessment of the personnel that will be required to staff the proposed institution of Lokpal, a Parliamentary panel has been informed.
Anna Hazare has thanked Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi for his "commitment" to the passage of the Lokpal Bill in Parliament, while demanding inclusion of recommendations of the select committee in the bill.
Lt Governor Najib Jung had sought Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran's as to whether the introduction of the Jan Lokpal Bill in the assembly without sending the legislative proposal to the Central government is in consonance with the transaction of Business of the GNCT of Delhi Rules, 1993, and also as to whether the proposal involves any constitutional infraction.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday said that there was "no division" in the United Progressive Alliance over the Lokpal issue even as his party spokesperson criticised Anna Hazare's arrest.
In the midst of continued stand-off between the government and civil society activists on the proposed Lokpal bill, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday met President Pratibha Patil and briefed her about the efforts being made to resolve the issue.
Adopting a tough posture, team Anna Hazare on Wednesday asked a Parliamentary panel to recommend to the government to withdraw the Lokpal Bill and come out with a fresh measure that deals with problem of corruption faced by the public.
Taking exception to the government's 'comparative' analysis of the two drafts of the Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare team on Monday asked Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to treat both its versions as the joint drafting committee's outcome enjoying 'equal weightage'.
Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Monday retracted from his statement that the prime minister should come within the ambit of Lokpal, as the party distanced itself from his remarks.
Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Varun Gandhi on Tuesday said that he had plans to introduce Anna Hazare's version of Lokpal Bill as a private member's bill in Parliament. "I plan to introduce the Jan Lokpal Bill as a private member's bill in the Parliament. I will do that next week," said the BJP Lok Sabha member from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh.
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