Government, BJP agree on passing resolution in Parl

New Delhi, Aug 27 (PTI) In a development that could
help end the impasse on the Lokpal issue, government and
opposition on Saturday reached an agreement under which
Parliament will adopt a resolution incorporating the three
demands of Team Anna with a voice vote.
The turnaround came when BJP heard Team Anna member
Arvind Kejriwal announce at the Ramlila grounds that the
government had conveyed to them the Opposition's reluctance to
vote on a resolution in Parliament on the Lokpal issue.
NDA Working President L K Advani, Leader of Opposition
in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her counterpart in Rajya Sahba
Arun Jaitley took the matter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Sources said Mukherjee
and Law Minister Salman Kurshid denied that the government had
made any such charge.
When the BJP insisted that in the changed
circumstances, a resolution should be moved and put to a voice
vote, the government agreed to it. Some young ministers and
MPs from the Congress also insisted on a resolution and vote
as they felt Team Anna will not settle for anything less.
It has been decided that the resolution will be moved
by Mukherjee. The wording of the resolution was worked out
with the Opposition.
Sources said the resolution mentions all the three
demands of Anna Hazare, namely Citizens' Charter, Lokayukta in
states and including lower bureaucracy under Lokpal's ambit.
The resolution states that the House agrees "in principle" on
these issues. It will be put to a voice vote in both Houses.
Once the resolution is passed, Union Minister Vilasrao
Deshmukh will take its translated Marathi version to Anna
Hazare and request him to break his fast.

Soon after the wording of the resolution was agreed
upon by the government, Khurshid discussed it with Team Anna
members Prashant Bhushan and Medha Patkar in a meeting.
There were several twists and turns in the sequence of
events since morning involving the government, BJP and Team
Anna.
Sources said Hazare had informed the government that
he was agreeable to even a letter from the Prime Minister
stating the sense of the House once the debate got over. But
Kejriwal's allegation led to a change in the script.
Sources said Deshmukh will meet Hazare personally after
the resolution is adopted by both Houses. He is also likely to
carry along with him Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's reply to
the Gandhian's earlier letter in which had said he will break
his fast if Parliament accepts his three conditions and passes
the Jan Lokpal Bill.