Team Anna doubts panel’s credibility
After the standing committee submitted its report on Lokpal in Parliament, Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal wondered about the credibility of a report supported by “Lalu Prasad, Amar Singh and the rest from BSP”.
“The issues remain the same. This means the parliamentary standing committee has fooled the public. Their report does not help in fighting corruption,” Mr Hazare is reported to have told reporters in Ralegan Siddhi.
Appealing to Mr Hazare not to go ahead with his fast on Sunday in protest against the exclusion of his key demands, like bringing lower bureaucracy under Lokpal, parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Bansal said, “They should all wait for a decision in Parliament. People can give their views and Parliament takes the decision.”
When asked to comment on the reactions given by Mr Hazare and his team members, Mr Bansal said, “It amuses and bemuses me that discussions will be held at Jantar Mantar.”
Mr Singhvi and law minister Salman Khurshid sought to allay apprehensions that making it a constitutional body would delay its passage and maintained that the “process can be completed in a single day”.
Mr Khurshid defended the move to give constitutional status to the Lokpal, saying it gives “special guarantee of authority and integrity” to an institution and that “Rahul Gandhi’s aspiration and determination” is that it should be no less than the constitutional institutions.
Both Team Anna and the main Opposition BJP accused that the report has not fulfilled its promises with regard to the “sense of the House” resolution adopted in Parliament in August and has also focused more on “legalism” rather than political and social aspirations of the people. But Mr Khurshid said, “People who are inside the House will understand the sense better than those who are outside.”
Mr Singhvi said the panel could not put a rubber stamp on any of the proposals and has to take decisions based on its perceptions. “If we have to be rubber stamps, then standing committees should be abolished,” he said.
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