All India Congress Committee General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Friday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh apparently to discuss the Lokpal issue.
Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday forced adjournment of Rajya Sabha till noon when it created uproar over alleged shift in government stand on anti-graft activist Anna Hazare's Jan Lokpal Bill.
'Much of what we call corruption is but a side effect of a deeper malaise. The chalta-hai attitude and its innovative twin jugaad. Shortcuts have become endemic. Every shortcut we take compromises a principle, corrodes an institution and sets a wrong precedent,' says Shashi Shekhar.
Admitting that the government was in a "bind" from which it has to come out, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday night said that "practical and pragmatic" solutions have to be found to the Lokpal issue.
Politicians, legislators and bureaucrats from Maharashtra played a major role in facilitating talks between Team Anna and the government, reports Toral Varia
Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Varun Gandhi, who has given a notice in Lok Sabha for tabling Anna Hazare's Jan Lokpal Bill as a private members' bill, on Wednesday sat with protesters at Ramlila Maidan where the Gandhian is on a fast. Wearing a green kurta and sporting a tricolour badge, the 31-year-old Philibit MP came to the ground around 8:30 am and sat in the protesters' enclosure. "I have come here as a common man," Gandhi said.
We had asked our readers to suggest ways to resolve the stand-off between the United Progressive Alliance government and Team Anna Hazare on the proposed Lokpal Bill draft. The responses.
All business establishments in Guwahati on Tuesday downed their shutters for the day to express solidarity with Team Anna's agitation against corruption and to demand the adoption of the Jan Lokpal Bill.
The Congress on Monday supported Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's statements for a "reasoned debate" on the Lokpal Bill and that there is a "lot of scope for give and take" on the issue.
Swami Agnivesh, one of the 22 members of the core committee set up by activist Anna Hazare, claimed on Monday that there has been no response from the Centre so far to end the activist's indefinite fast against corruption. "In the last seven days, we have never had anyone mediating between us and the government about the Jan Lokpal Bill," he said. He rejected media reports about the government roping in any mediators.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said that the leaders of the civil society movement for a Lokpal Bill have given an impression as if they have become legislators.
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.
in New Delhi Rashtriya Janata Dal member of parliament Rajniti Prasad said that he "alone, is responsible for tearing the Lokpal bill in the Rajya Sabha" on December 29 while the house was debating on the merits of constitutional amendment.
Amid a strong anti-corruption campaign led by Anna Hazare, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Saturday said Parliament should set aside all business and pass a strong Lokpal Bill at the earliest so that questions raised over the credibility of Legislature are answered.
Anna Hazare's team would end the confrontation if the government agrees to 'modify substantially' its stance on several clauses of the Lokpal bill. Sheela Bhatt reports from New Delhi.
Bhikhabhai Jethwa, father of slain RTI activist Amit Jethwa, is filing a writ petition in the Gujarat high court on Thursday against the Narendra Modi government's failure to appoint a Lokayukta.
In an open letter to Team Anna, Colonel Anil Athale questions their obsession with the Lokpal Bill. Athale suggests the merger of existing anti-corruption wings of all departments and public enterprises with Lokpal instead of creating another huge army of clerks.
Insisting that there was no wrongdoing in the arrest of Anna Hazare, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said the government would deal with him "administratively and politically" but made it clear that his Jan Lokpal Bill was not acceptable.
Putting up a brave front after it failed to muster the numbers in the Rajya Sabha, the United Progressive Alliance government on Friday said the Lokpal Bill will "definitely" be brought before the Rajya Sabha during the Budget session even as Congress leader Digvijay Singh defended the move saying extension of the House on Thursday night was not possible.
Under fierce attack from the Opposition, the government on Thursday night defended the move to adjourn the Rajya Sabha sine die saying it needs time to study the nearly 200 amendments moved by the Opposition on the Lokpal Bill.
Seeking Opposition support for the Lokpal Bill, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla on Friday said in the Rajya Sabha that the intention of the government should not be questioned as it has brought a strong law.
The Congress party, which seems to be short of the numbers to shepherd the Lokpal bill though the Rajya Sabha, is trying desperately to avoid voting on the bill in the upper house as the debate over the bill winds down in Parliament on Wednesday evening.
Anna Hazare, who called off his two-day fast in Mumbai for a strong Lokpal Bill due to failing health and poor public response, on Thursday left for his native Ralegan Siddhi village
The debate over the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011, has caused an internal rift in the party, and Kalyan Banerjee is upset that some of his party leaders are questioning his stand over it.
The Trinamool Congress, which has six members in the Rajya Sabha, said it will "strongly" oppose the provision and want the deletion of Part III of The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011, which deals with setting up of Lokayuktas at the state level. "We have already submitted our amendments. We are going to press for it," Mukul Roy, Trinamool leader and minister of state for shipping, told reporters in New Delhi.
The San Francisco Bay Area unit of India Against Corruption on Monday slammed the arrest of activist Anna Hazare. Nearly 150 members of the Indian American community gathered at the Civic Centre Plaza in Los Angeles to show their support to Anna Hazare on the eve of Independence Day.They expressed their support for Hazare and the millions of Indians who are demanding the Jan Lokpal Bill to end corruption in India.
Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi on Wednesday said that the debate on Lokpal Bill does not have any link with the Election Process as the model code of conduct does not apply to Parliament.
Yoga guru Ramdev, who along with his supporters faced police crackdown during their agitation at Ramlila Maidan, on Monday, wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him to exercise "self restraint" and ensure that similar action was not taken against Anna Hazare and his team.
Reacting strongly to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement that hunger strikes were not a way to solve the problem of corruption, activist Anna Hazare's team on Monday called him an "insensitive" person.
Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad on Tuesday had the Lok Sabha in splits when he suggested that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should be selected as the first Lokpal as he was an honest person.
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Senior Bhartiya Janata Party vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has condemned the manner in which the Congress and United Progressive Alliance ministers launched an all-out attack against Anna Hazare on Sunday --less than 48 hours before he embarks on the second indefinite fast -- to press for total acceptance of Jan Lokpal bill.
Hazare's convoy, on way to Mahatma Gandhi's statue on Juhu beach, was briefly stopped by around 20 men carrying black flags and national tricolour and shouting "Anna Hazare murdabad", close to the guest house where the activist stayed overnight.
Activist Anna Hazare and the government seem to be headed for a confrontation with the Gandhian on Saturday deciding to go ahead with his indefinite fast from August 16 for a "strong" Lokpal.
As he prepares to go on a three-day fast for a strong Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare and his team on Sunday shot off an open letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and MPs urging them to make the best possible law which includes provisions for an independent investigative wing for the ombudsman.
The MMRDA ground in suburban Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai awaits the arrival of Anna Hazare, who is expected to reach here on December 26 for his three-day protest fast against government's "weak" Lokpal Bill.
Hitting out at the government on the "useless" Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare on Thursday challenged Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to a public debate on it to convince people that the proposed legislation is strong.
In its first press meet ever since the second phase of the budget session began in the Parliament a few days ago, Team Anna on Thursday laid out how it plans to exert pressure for a strong and independent Jan 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.
Expressing disappointment with the new draft Lokpal Bill to be tabled in Parliament, Anna Hazare on Tuesday said he would fast for three days from December 27, followed by a three-day 'jail bharo' agitation.
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