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| Politics
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| Ahead of meet with allies |
| Lokpal Bill: Ahead of meet with allies, PM meets Sonia, top Congress leaders
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| INDIA
, 13-December-2011
4:15:30 AM |
| Under considerable pressure from activist Anna Hazare and a united opposition, the government has worked out a peace formula on the Lokpal Bill that seems to have been accepted by most political parties. The Prime Minister, sources say, spent last evening working the phone to strike political consensus. This new version of the Lokpal Bill was pitched at a meeting in Parliament this afternoon attended by senior Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi. The anti-corruption Bill will be now discussed this evening at a meeting of all UPA members to ensure key members of the ruling coalition will not find fault with the Lokpal Bill.
After witnessing a debate on Sunday where all major political parties backed Anna's key demands, the government has agreed to incorporate most of them. So the Lokpal, a new ombudsman agency, will be allowed to investigate the Prime Minister, though with safeguards, on charges of corruption. Around 57 lakh junior bureaucrats, who are central government employees, will also be accountable to the ombudsman. The premier investigating agency - the CBI - will report to the Lokpal when investigating complaints of corruption against government servants. And Anna Hazare, who is 74, and has fronted a campaign for a tough Lokpal, said today that he stands by his warning to start a lengthy hunger strike on December 27 if the Lokpal Bill is approved as law by Parliament before then. The activist's core group will meet tomorrow in Delhi to finalize its strategy.
The need to allow the Lokpal to investigate the PM's office for charges of corruption was emphasized at Sunday's debate at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. It was hosted by Team Anna. The Congress was the only big party that chose not to attend, describing the event as "an insult to Parliament" because the Bill has not yet been discussed formally by Parliament.
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