Beginning from prime minister Manmohan Singh to Abhishek Manu Singhvi, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee that is seized of the Lokpal bill, the Congress seems to be sending a single message to Team Anna: “Respect Parliament.”
However, the mood is only conciliatory. Neither the government nor the Congress is talking in confrontationist voice anymore. The prime minister indicated there is scope for “give and take” and rationalized the presentation of the existing form of the bill in parliament due to the demands of the Opposition parties.
“They said that they would not comment unless we table the bill,” he told mediapersons while stressing the need for a national consensus on a strong Lokpal bill. At the same time, the message to Team Anna is very loud and clear that their August 30 deadline for the passage of the bill will not be met. As the standing committee issued advertisements inviting public opinion on the bill, Singhvi was emphatic that not only would the August 30 deadline be missed, but also it is not possible to give a firm commitment regarding the date.
Union ministers Rajeev Shukla, V Narayanasamy and Ashwini Kumar also took strong objections to the criticism of the parliamentary procedures emanating from Team Anna.
Narayanasamy went to the extent of dubbing it as a breach of parliamentary privilege
Singhvi also said the standing committee was given a three month period to finalise its recommendations and any attempt to rush it through could invite the charge that the committee had not “properly applied its mind”.
