At least three constituents of the UPA — the Trinamul Congress, the DMK and the NCP — have not joined the Congress yet in launching offensive against the civil society group.
It is not known whether the Congress does not want to fight the battle against the civil society group under the banner of the UPA or its allies are staying away from the campaign.
The Congress is fighting the battle on two levels. First, it is suggesting that the Anna Hazare-led group has a backing from the BJP and the Sangh Parivar. And second, that the main Opposition is destablising the government which is nothing but a violation of the mandate of 2009 General Election. The government’s crisis managers are from the Congress party. They are dealing with the issues of creating Telangana state, Naxal activities, civil society group and yoga guru Ramdev. The mood in the Congress is to oppose bringing Prime Minister under the ambit of a the Lokpal Bill.
Meanwhile, continuing its attack on Mr Hazare ahead of Wednesday’s meeting of the joint committee to draft the Lokpal Bill, the Congress on Tuesday said it was not democratic that one person tries to impose his views and only Parliament and assemblies can debate what laws should be made.
“It is not democratic that one person tries to impose his views on everybody. This cannot go on that any person rises and starts dictating that this should happen and this should not,” AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi told reporters here.
He said a decision would be taken in a democracy only through public opinion and the debate on what bill should or should not be made can take place “only in Parliament and assemblies” which represent people and are elected bodies.
Mr Dwivedi said the party is in agreement with the views of Mr Pranab Mukherjee on the issue as “after all there is a way in which democracy could function and there is a process for taking decisions. Democracy cannot function in an arbitrary manner. What will happen if tomorrow some civil society members say they do not accept results of Assembly elections.”
Mr Dwivedi also sought to turn the table on the BJP over the death of Swami Nigamananda in the saffron party ruled Uttarakhand.
He said that it was “very unfortunate and saddening” that the Chief Minister of a party, which does not stop swearing in the name of Ganga and Ram, was busy paying his attention to the other “political game” but did not take notice of Nigamanand.
He described the seer as a person who was agitating for saving Ganga river and checking illegal mining with firm determination and in a spirit of “true Satyagrah”.
“Nigamananda was being treated in the same hospital in which Ramdev was admitted. The state government has all the information but it did not pay attention to the former,” the Congress leader said, adding that everybody should express his or her views against “such insensitivity”.
The seer died on Monday. after a record 114-day long hunger strike
demanding immediate stopping of quarrying in Ganga.
The Congress dismissed as “uncontrolled” Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s statement seeking the resignation of home minister P Chidambaram for allegedly getting
himself elected to Parliament through “fraudulent” means.
“How can any party give its reaction on such an uncontrolled statement? The person concerned will respond”, Mr Dwivedi told reporters.