The only consensus was on the need to have a strong Lok Pal.
An all-party meet on Lok Pal today failed to reach a consensus on any of the crucial aspects of the proposed Bill — neither on how the Lok Pal should be appointed, nor on where his writ should run and where it should not.
This means the issue of corruption in high places — and even elsewhere in government, the bureaucracy and the state apparatus — will be the central point of discussion and agitation in the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament.
The meeting did not even discuss the legislation and its clauses. Its first objection was that the government had brought two sets of proposals — its own and those of civil society — before elected Members of Parliament. This was unacceptable.
“We want a strong Lok Pal...bring a government bill, send it to the standing committee so that all parties can give a point of view,” said Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj. She was reacting to the fact that two sets of proposals — one from the government and the other from the Anna Hazare-led social activists — had been presented. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said it was not the Opposition’s job to create a consensus between the government and sundry groups of activists. It wanted the government to put out one comprehensive draft.
The only thing that all parties agreed on was the need to have a strong Lok Pal. A terse resolution issued at the end of the meeting said: “The all-party meeting agreed that the government should bring before the next session of Parliament a strong and effective Lok Pal Bill following the established procedures.”
The absence of a consensus at today’s meeting means Hazare’s fast, which he plans to resume in the middle of August, will be on course where he will charge the government with attempting to shield and let off those engaged in corruption.
In fact, in his opening remarks today, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took the unusual step for conceding that there was a need to stem corruption in high places and that while there were several laws in place to check corruption, an institutional arrangement was needed.
However, he put in two caveats: That the Lok Pal has to work in harmony with other institutions and laws; and it has to function within the framework of basic structure of Constitution.
This continued to be the problem, although today’s meeting did not discuss them, except the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which asserted that both the PM and the Judiciary must come under the purview of the Lok Pal).
The stumbling blocks are not just whether the PM or the higher judiciary should be brought under the Lok Pal’s supervision (both propositions violative of the constitution and requiring an amendment to the basic structure of the Constitution) but also nitty gritties like bringing the Central Bureau of Investigation’s anti-corruption wing, MPs’ conduct inside Parliament, and the lower bureaucracy across the country within the ambit of Lok Pal, besides the mode of financing and the panel for selecting the ombudsman.
The meeting was also attended by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Union ministers Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, M Veerappa Moily, Salman Khurshid and Pawan Kumar Bansal. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel (both NCP), and T R Baalu (DMK) were among the UPA constituents to attend the deliberations.
The Opposition was represented by BJP veteran L K Advani, Leaders of Opposition Sushma Swaraj (Lok Sabha) and Arun Jaitley (Rajya Sabha), NDA Convenor and JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav, Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), Gurudas Dasgupta and D Raja (both CPI) and Lalu Prasad (RJD), among others.
