Voice vote on Anna demands, but crisis continues

When would Anna Hazare end his fast? There was still no clear answer Saturday as the situation continued to be fluid despite the government agreeing to adopt by a voice vote the resolution on corruption and the Lokpal bill following the debate at a special session of parliament called on a weekend

Tension escalated as Hazare's fast entered day 12 and crowds gathered at the Ramlila Maidan here but, at the end of day, there was still no clarity on where things were headed.

Hazare, 74, has said he would end his fast only when the resolution accommodates the three key issues - having Lokayuktas in every state, citizen's charters for government departments and inclusion of lower bureaucracy in the Lokpal's ambit.

As proceedings continued in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha, informed sources said the debate would be followed by a resolution that would reflect the unanimous sense of each of the two houses.

However, there was no commitment from Team Anna that the civil society leader would give up his fast. A long night stretched ahead.

The distrust persisted with Hazare's aides only a few hours earlier accusing the Manmohan Singh regime of reneging on its pledge to move a resolution on the Lokpal bill in parliament.

Law Minister Salman Khurshid had held talks with activists Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan, who said after the meeting that the government had refused to move a resolution over the three key demands.

"This will be a very unfortunate response to what Anna Hazare has written to the PM," Bhushan told reporters, adding it was now for Hazare to decide if he should call off his 12-day fast.

The government and the opposition agreed that parliament alone had the right to make laws in a democracy.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee underlined the government's commitment to bring an "appropriate" legislation to eradicate corruption in the country and asked MPs to discuss Hazare's three key demands that "deserve our serious consideration".

He added that whatever the house decides should be "consistent with the principles enshrined within our constitutional framework".

Mukherjee, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj and Science and Technology Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh were involved in the last ditch effort to break the logjam.

While the confusion continued, thousands still packed into the sprawling Ramlila ground in the heart of Delhi where Hazare is fasting. Filmstar Aamir Khan made an appearance in the afternoon, exhorting parliament to pass the legislation but also requesting Hazare to end his fast.

Declaring her party's support to all three issues raised by Hazare, Sushma Swaraj said in the Lok Sabha that the BJP was in favour of setting up of a commission to investigate and check corruption in the judiciary.

She said Hazare's anti-graft campaign had brought the issue of Lokpal to the people and the massive support it garnered indicated that people's emotions had galvanised against the "innumerable scams" and people were "fed up" of increasing corruption.

The government and the opposition, however, showed a convergence of views on the parliament's prerogative to make laws during the special debate on the Lokpal issue in both houses.

"No one can dispute that Indian parliament is supreme in law making. Law can't be made anywhere else but in parliament. So even when pressure groups build up pressure in the society, we must concede to them the right to build up pressure, but not be provoked by them," Leader of Opposition in the upper house Arun Jaitley said while participating in the debate.

He said while civil society had a role to play as crusaders, the option to agree or not was there.

Union Minister Ashwani Kumar, participating in the debate, also raised the same point, stating there was unanimity in the house that law-making should be with parliament alone.