House supreme on Lokpal: Opp.

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An assortment of Opposition parties, including the Left, BJP and centrist parties like the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Samajwadi Party (SP) and Biju Janata Dal (BJD), shared the dais at Gandhian Anna Hazare’s token one-day fast at Jantar Mantar here to press for a strong Lokpal bill and support the inclusion of the Prime Minister and the lower bureaucracy within its ambit. At the same time, they reminded Team Anna that the specifics on the matter should be left to Parliament, which will have the last word. Buoyed by the Opposition presence, Mr Hazare also criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi. However, he failed to get unconditional support from the political class for his version of the Jan Lokpal bill. Represent-atives of the BJP, JD(U) and Akali Dal (from the NDA), CPI, CPI(M), TDP, SP, INLD and the BJD attended, but others like the AIADMK, BSP and the Shiv Sena chose to stay away. Team Anna, in turn, also had to bear stern criticism from CPI leader A.B. Bardhan who told them that they should not think of themselves as the sole repository of wisdom.
It was ironical though that in a matter of six months, Team Anna — which had earlier jeered and shunted out the political class — appeared more than eager on Sunday to embrace politicians and enlist their support.
Alleging that the Prime Minister does not take a decision on MPs who allegedly have criminal records, Mr Hazare said, “Then how will the country progress? He has become the Prime Minister but who will take decision... That is why we want the right to recall, the right to reject,” he said. Mr Hazare exhorted the Opposition to show the same level of unity for the Lokpal bill as they had done to oppose FDI in retail and demand a JPC probe into 2G spectrum allocation. He said the Opposition should launch a “jail bharo andolan”.
However, CPI leader A.B. Bardhan warned Team Anna against branding as “corrupt” those people who disagree with its views and asked them to respect the opinions of others as well. “Team Anna should not expect that each and every word it made in the Jan Lokpal bill is accepted. They should show some flexibility,” he said.
Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said that the “sense of the House” resolution — which sought Lokayuktas in states, lower bureaucracy and Citizen Charter as part of the Lokpal — had not been respected by the standing committee.