Lok Sabha passes Lokpal resolution-Anna likely to end fast at 10 am on Sunday

Agencies

New Delhi, 27 August 2011: 8.15PM:  Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday moved a resolution conveying the sense of the House on the Lokpal Bill in the Lok Sabha but no voting took place on the motion. However, Speaker Meira Kumar later clarified later that the thumping of desks by the members indicated the unanimous passing of the resolution.

 

Accrding to a reliable source, Anna Hazare will be ending his fast on Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 10 am, as he has been known not to brek his fast after 7 pm. 

 

Soon after, Pranab Mukherjee introduced the sense of the House in the form of a reslution, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar adjourned the Lok Sabha till Monday. 

 

There seems to some confusion over procedures of the Lok Sabha. "Thumping of the desk is akin to passing a motion by the House," says Harish Salve. 

 

Some of the important points of the Lokpal resolution passed by Lok Sabha are: 

 

*An effective Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states be set up. 

 

*Employees of centre and state governments to be brought under purview of Lokpal and Lokayuktas respectively. 

 

*All government departments to have citizen’s charter with timeline. 

 

With a copy of resolution and a letter from PM Manmohan Singh, Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh would now go to Ramlila Maidan to meet Anna Hazare. 

 

Earlier, the team Anna said they have received a communication from the government that a resolution carrying their demands on Lokpal Bill will be put to a voice vote, a move which they termed as a "very happy" development. 

 

Fresh trouble emerged this afternoon after government decided only to convey sense of House to Team Anna and not put the resolution for voting, the activists hardened their position saying it was "betrayal" and only a resolution which will be put to vote will be acceptable. 

 

This forced the government to change its stand. The activist’s camp said they have received the communication from the government about its decision to put the resolution to voice vote. 

 

"We are very happy with the development," a Team Anna spokesperson said. 

 

Asked whether Hazare would end his fast today, the spokesperson said the decision will be taken by Hazare himself. 

 

The 74-year-old Gandhian has been on fast for the last 12 days, demanding the passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill by Parliament. 

 

Govt agrees to voice vote on Anna’s demand:

New Delhi, 27 August 2011: 5.45PM: The Government will bring in a resolution on the three demands put forward by Team Anna which will be put to voice vote in Parliament. Sources told CNN-IBN that the resolution will be brought after the discussion on the Lokpal Bills in Parliament.

 

Sushma Swaraj, Bharatiya Janata Party MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Vilasrao Deshmukh, who has been in touch with Anna Hazare directly, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to finalise the final wordings of the resolution.

 

Team Anna has expressed its unhappiness with the Government’s resolution on Anna Hazare’s three demands. Hazare’s close associate Prashant Bhushan, who met Government representatives on the resolution to be adopted by Parliament on Saturday, said that it is unfortunate to see the response to what Anna has written to the Government. He demanded that the resolution should not be a mere statement of intent of the House, but should be voted upon in Parliament.

 

Unless the resolution is formally moved as a motion, then voted upon and adopted by Parliament, Hazare would not break his fast, said Prashant Bhushan.

"There has to be a resolution. The BJP has given a motion for resolution. If the Congress is serious about it then it should be considered. We don’t know who stands where? We are now being told that there would be a debate and sense of the House will be conveyed to Annaji. This will not help. The decision will be taken by Annaji," said Prashant Bhushan.

 

"The country wants to know Parliament’s position, the position of the MPs and of the political parties," he added.

 

Earlier, the Government and the Opposition had united to convey a sense of the House, which would have been "formally" adopted by the House. The resolution was not going to be voted upon.

 

The Government was keen that Hazare calls off his fast during the debate itself. Parliamentary Affairs Committee Pawan Bansal had on Friday indicated that if Opposition members insist, only then will there be a vote which could have taken place under Rule 342 under which if there is a consensus among the members of the House then there can be a voting.

 

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is leading the Government team in negotiations with Team Anna, met senior BJP leaders LK Advani, Arun Jaitley and SS Ahluwalia after Team Anna’s new demand. The meeting was attended by Telecom and HRD Minister Kapil Sibal.

 

Points of draft circulated by the Government to political parties in Parliament:

1) That this House resolves through an appropriate law that an effective Lokpal and state Lokayukta be set up compatible to constitutional mechanism.

2) Employees of state and Center are brought under the purview through appropriate mechanism.

3) All government departments to have citizen’s charter with a timeline for the completion of any work.

 

 

There wont be any resolution or voting in Parlaiment-Team Anna:

New Delhi, 27 August 2011: 3.30 PM: It seems that the impass between the government and team Anna is not likely to end soon as the hope of a resolution being passed in the Parlaiment accepting the three sticking issues raised by Anna Hazare has receded.

 

Prashant Bhushan, one of the members of the Team Anna speaking to the media few minutes earlier after returning from the residence of Salman Kurshid said that the team Anna was given to understand by the government that there wont be any resolution or voting in the Parliament following the debate in both the Houses of the Parliament. 

 

Govt draft agrees to all three of Anna’s conditions:

New Delhi,27 August 2011: 2.15 PM: In a bid to persuade Anna Hazare to end his 12-day fast, the government has reportedly agreed to all the three sticky issues raised by the 74-year-old civil rights activist. 

 

According to reports, the government has prepared a draft agreeing to all three of Anna’s conditions. It may present the draft during the ongoing discussion on the Lokpal Bill in the Parliament. 

 

In order to garner support, the government has circulated the draft suggestions among all political parties. Most of the parties have backed the draft. 

Team Anna has made three demands: that the lower bureaucracy be brought under the purview of the Lokpal, that Lokayuktas in the states be brought under the Lokpal and that a citizen’s charter for government departments be worked out. 

 

Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, has reportedly met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and said ’we are not standing on prestige’. 

 

Meanwhile, Team Anna met Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid. 

 

Both the Houses are debating the Lokpal issue and will pass a resolution on the bill this evening. According to reports, a final joint statement will be approved by Anna Hazare. 

 

Earlier in the day, former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who is negotiating with Team Anna, said that Anna is more or less satisfied with the way things were happening.