Lokpal Bill: Anna Hazare rejects the draft report, threatens agitation

The prospect of a third round of confrontation between the Manmohan Singh government and Team Anna loomed large on Tuesday with the Opposition set to reject the draft report of the parliamentary standing committee on Lokpal bill and civil society up in arms against the proposal to include NGOs and media and exclude lower bureaucracy, citizen's charter and CBI's anti-corruption wing from the proposed anti-graft body.

Copies of the draft Lokpal bill, circulated among members of the parliamentary panel on Monday, did not enthuse the Opposition or civil society spearheading the campaign for a strong Lokpal.

Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj, when asked for her party's reaction to the document, said BJP members on the standing committee would air their views at its last two rounds of meetings on Wednesday and Thursday. Party leaders, however, trashed the draft report, arguing that its recommendations, if accepted, would render Lokpal without much muscle. With the standing committee unable to take a call on including the office of the prime minister under Lokpal's purview, BJP and Left parties were set to oppose the relevant clauses in the draft document.

Team Anna, which has been warning the government against going back on its promise to set up a strong Lokpal, is now bracing to launch the third chapter of its movement. Anna Hazare, the anti-graft crusader, has already announced that he would sit on a day-long dharna at Jantar Mantar on December 11, and also sought MCD's permission to hold a protest at the Ramlila Maidan from December 27.

"The Standing Committee report is out, we may have to restart agitation. We will fast on December 11 at Jantar Mantar,'' Anna told newspersons in his village, Ralegan Siddhi on Tuesday evening.

Expressing disappointment over the recommendations contained in the standing committee's draft report, Hazare's colleague Arvind Kejriwal sought to remind the government of the parliamentary resolution that had prompted the activist to end his fast on August 28, and said he hoped it would be respected.

"When Anna ended his fast, Parliament agreed to a resolution that stated clearly on lower bureaucracy and Citizen's Charter. We just hope that resolution is respected,'' he said.

Civil society members, including Team Anna, were upset over what they felt was part of a project undertaken by the government to rein in NGOs, and bring them under Lokpal lens. The draft report penciled by the standing committee has recommended that all NGOs, media firm or companies wholly or partly financed by the government will come under Lokpal scrutiny.