By IANS,
New Delhi: As Team Anna upped the ante against the government over the Lokpal bill, the government announced its plan of a series of deliberations, including an all-party meeting Wednesday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called the all-party meeting at his residence Wednesday to attempt a consensus on the bill, official sources said. The government wants to bring the bill in the ongoing winter session, which ends Dec 22, they added.
A day earlier, a meeting of the cabinet will be held to be followed by a meeting of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) leaders, sources said.
The cabinet will discuss the parliamentary committee report on the Lokpal bill, which was tabled in parliament Friday, the sources said. The report recommended that the Lokpal be given constitutional status, but left to parliament the issue of bringing the prime minister under the Lokpal’s purview.
The government wants to take on board all constituents of the UPA on the Lokpal bill issue, unlike the decision on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which was opposed by two allies – the Trinamool Congress and the DMK, the sources added.
Though the cabinet was to meet after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Russia trip Dec 15-17, it has been advanced in view of critical statements by Team Anna against the government and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the sources said.
Afer approval by the cabinet, the Lokpal bill is likely to be introduced in parliament Dec 19.
Anna Hazare, who has demanded that the prime minister and the lower bureaucracy be brought within the Lokpal’s ambit, Saturday termed the standing committee’s report as a betrayal of the nation and attacked the government for wanting a “weak” Lokpal.
On the eve of his day-long fast here, Hazare said he would campaign against the Congress in the assembly elections due next year.