Breakthrough in Team Anna, Government standoff?

Mtoday news / CNN-IBN

New Delhi, August 21: Some hope of a breakthrough in the standoff between Team Anna and the government over the Lokpal Bill. Congress MP from Bareilly Praveen Singh Aaron has submitted the Jan Lokpal Bill before the Parliament Standing Committee for consideration. That is the civil society version of the Lokpal Bill.

 

BJP MP Varun Gandhi and Independent MP Rajiv Chandrasekhar had earlier submitted Private Members’ Bills for discussion of the Jan Lokpal Bill in Parliament.

While the government has reached out to civil society, it has made it clear that the August 30 deadline set by Anna Hazare for Parliament to pass his Bill cannot be met.

Confirming the development on Saturday, sources said the committee, headed by Abhishek Manu Singhvi, will take a decision on whether or not to take up the Bill during deliberations over the Lokpal issue at its meeting scheduled later.

Submission of Hazare’s Bill before the Parliamentary Standing Committee by a Congress member assumes significance in the light of recent indications by the government that it was working to accommodate some of the recommendations of Team Anna over the Lokpal issue.