BJP in two minds about attending all-party meet

A couple of days before the crucial all-party meeting called by the Union government to discuss the Lok Pal Bill, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is thinking on whether or not senior leaders of the party should take part in the meeting.

During the discussion between BJP leaders and civil society representatives, senior leaders of the party told Anna Hazare and his team that they were unhappy with the government’s approach, since the Opposition had been kept out from the beginning and the government now wanted to discuss the Bill even before getting it cleared by the Union Cabinet.

The meeting started with Hazare’s opening remarks that gave a broad picture of the Bill and the importance of such a law to end corruption in the country, besides reminding BJP leaders the commitment made by former prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who had agreed that the PM should come under the Lok Pal’s ambit.

Although BJP didn’t give any assurance to Hazare and his team on its decisions, but it raised questions on how the members would be appointed in the Lok Pal and how the appointment process would be made secure.

BJP has given an in-principle commitment for an effective Lok Pal to Hazare but has sought clarification on a few issues. Interestingly, both BJP and Hazare’s team didn’t raise the issue of bringing the prime minister under Lok Pal’s ambit and the two sides did not mention the name of yoga guru Ramdev0, who was recently on a hunger strike against corruption and black money.

The BJP leaders also raised questions on how the members of Parliament would be made accountable in the Lok Pal, hoping the law would not scare the Parliamentarians from doing their duty. Senior BJP leaders also said they supported the independence of judiciary in the country.

“We also made our apprehensions clear that the Lok Pal should not affect the federal structure of the country. We wanted to know if it would be a parallel organisation with the Union government. We don’t want a situation where the Union government misuses such a law against the state government,” BJP leader said.