The parliament was all set to discuss the Jan Lokpal bill Friday, the 11th day of Anna Hazare’s fast. He has lost seven kg till now, although doctors monitoring him said he was fine.
The virtual climbdown by the government came Thursday after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made an emotive appeal to Hazare to end his hunger strike in view of his failing health but the 74-year-old activist declined unless parliament discussed three key issues.
These are —
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covering the lower bureaucracy in any Lokpal,
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setting up Lokayuktas in the states and
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framing Citizen’s Charters for all government departments.
Doctors monitoring Hazare’s health Friday morning said his blood pressure was normal.
‘Anna has lost seven kg of weight. However, he is stable. His blood pressure is normal. We are monitoring him round the clock,’ a doctor said after Hazare’s regular medical check up in the morning.
Kiran Bedi of Team Anna tweeted late Thursday: ‘If the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is supportive of several key issues as was evident in the meeting (between the BJP leadership and Team Anna), the onus is on the government now’.
While Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal Thursday said the BJP broadly agreed with their version of the anti-graft bill, veteran party leader L.K. Advani Friday said the Jan Lokpal bill had some inherent flaws due to which it would not be passed in the parliament in its present form.
‘I know what are the flaws in the provisions of the Jan Lokpal bill due to which it will not get passed. And this, I tried to explain to them (Team Anna) yesterday,’ Advani told a group of students from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) who called on him Friday morning.
He, however, added that the BJP was in support of any legislation that will fight corruption effectively.
