MUMBAI/NEW DELHI:
A day after the standing committee examining the Lokpal bill overturned its earlier recommendation on Group C central government employees and left them out of its ambit, Team Anna ratcheted up its confrontation with Congress, bringing Rahul Gandhi under its firing line.
The civil society group will now hold a meeting here towards the middle of this month to finalise its future course of action. Making it clear that he was "dismayed'' by the parliamentary panel's decision exclude lower bureaucracy, who not only form the biggest chunk of government employees, but are also the ones who come face-to-face with the common man, Anna Hazare remarked: "Bring lower bureaucracy under the Lokpal.
Corruption will not be eradicated from the country unless the Group 3 and 4 employees are brought under the ambit of Lokpal Bill." The anti-graft crusader, while speaking to newspersons in his village Ralegan Siddhi, blamed AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi for the 'flip-flop' by the standing committee on the subject.
"He (Rahul Gandhi) must have pressured the committee to leave out the lower bureaucracy from the Lokpal Bill," adding, "Rahul said that Lokpal should be a constitutional body. I have no objection on it. But there should be no interference from the side of the government."
Expressing his dissatisfaction with the proto-type of the Lokpal bill prepared by the standing committee on law and justice, the anti-graft crusader has already announced his plans to launch the third round of his agitation from December 27. Team Anna will meet here for two days in the second week of December to chalk out its strategy for the proposed indefinite protest announced by Hazare demanding a strong Lokpal Bill.
The meeting will be held on December 14 and 15 after Hazare holds a one-day protest in Jantar Mantar on December 11 to protest against the `watered down' report of the parliamentary committee. The activist also blamed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for 'going back' on his words on the proposed ombudsman's jurisdiction.
"He had agreed on the need for a strong Lokpal. He even wrote to me that we shared the common objective of eliminating corruption. There could be differences on the means to be adopted, but our difference is not wide. So why are they excluding class III & IV," Hazare asked.
"After my fast, the prime minister wrote to me about including lower class government employees within the proposed Lokpal's ambit. This was even passed in Parliament – a copy of the resolution passed by it was sent to the standing committee chairman," Hazare maintained. Hardening his stance, Hazare said after the completion of the third round of his fast, he will undertake a tour of the five pollbound states to mobilise public opinion.
"I will tell the people how they were being conned by the government," he said. BJP, in its dissent notes presented to the parliamentary panel at its last meeting on Thursday, also criticised it for ignoring the 'sense of the House' while drafting its recommendations. Party members on the panel submitted dissenting notes on as many as 18 of the 25 recommendations.
The Opposition party wants the office of the prime minister to be included within the Lokpal's purview during his tenure, minus its responsibilities with regard to national security and public order. It also favoured the inclusion of citizen's charter, and the appointment of a National Judicial Commission, both on discipline and appointment of judicial officers. BJP wanted complete autonomy for CBI, and backed granting its superintendence to the Lokpal.
Source : The Economic Times, December 3, 2011
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