NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is learnt to have indicated to his party colleagues that he is willing to be brought under the ambit of the proposed Lokpal.
This marks a potentially pivotal stand on a thorny issue in the standoff between the government and the civil society activists demanding a strong anti-graft legislation. But the Congress core committee, which deliberated on the issue on Friday, could not arrive at a consensus on the matter.
"The drafting panel will take a final call on the issue," said Congress spokesman after the meeting. Activist Anna Hazare and his associates have been demanding that the PM and the higher judiciary must be brought under the jurisdiction of the Lokpal, a proposal that has found little favour with the government thus far.
At a press conference on Thursday, HRD minister Kapil Sibal had said the Prime Minister was one among equals in the comity of nations and headed a government of 1.2 billion people.
"A man occupying such an office, he argued, should not be subject to a parallel structure such as the proposed Lokpal. Don't think of the person, think of the institution," Sibal had said. The PM's stand on the matter, if accepted by the Congress, will force the civil society activists, seen as rigid and inflexible in their demands, to be more accommodating.
The Core Group was said to have decided to leave it to joint committee members to sort out the differences with civil society members.
The demand for Telangana statehood also came up for discussion. Despite mounting pressure from party MPs and MLAs from Telangana, the leadership seemed disinclined to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh. It, however, is in favour of creating a Regional Council for Telangana, sources said.
At a meeting with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Congress chief’s Political Secretary Ahmed Patel on Wednesday, MPs and MLAs from Telangana had made a strong plea for statehood.
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