Young Congress MPs lose support, want govt to end Lokpal impasse

The expected rumble of dissent within the Congress against the government’s inept handling of the Anna Hazare issue could be heard on Monday, the seventh day of Hazare’s fast.

Several young party MPs, who spent an extended weekend in their constituencies, urged the senior leadership to resolve the crisis quickly as feedback from their supporters was alarming.

“The MPs are not sure if they will be able to recover lost ground as public anger is spreading fast in their constituencies,” a party source said. “The last few days proved to be very tough for them.”

In fact, a Congress MP met a key member of Team Anna on Monday and sought his advice on what to tell the senior leadership. The member is learnt to have told the MP to pressurise senior leaders unless they wanted to lose their voter base.

Priya Dutt and Sanjay Nirupam, Congress MPs from Mumbai, on Monday hinted at supporting Anna’s version of the Lokpal Bill. While Nirupam donned an “Anna” cap, Dutt said Anna’s version needed to be looked at closely. Nirupam with the cap was a dichotomy of sorts as he was one of the speakers who had led the charge in Parliament last week against Hazare’s fast.

The MPs are also uncomfortable with the party’s current line that all discussions about the bill should be directed at the parliamentary standing committee as it is with them. “How does it help? Our voters and supporters don’t want to buy this argument,” a Congress MP said.

“They do not understand the intricacies of the legislative process. All they know is that a 74-year-old man was arrested for protesting against corruption; and he is now fasting to death. It may not be the correct picture but that is the story doing the rounds on the streets.”

The MP said the protesters at Ramlila Maidan and elsewhere do not care about the parliamentary process. “So, we are stuck,” he said.

Abhishek Manu Singhvi, the Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP and standing committee chairman, however, said “there was no problem in waiting for six to eight weeks, when the government is also committed to the concept of a strong Lokpal Bill”.

Singhvi said the bill would be ready and presented before Parliament during the winter session. Hazare on Sunday had given an ultimatum to the government to either prepare the bill by August 30 or face a movement never seen before.

Some MPs said Sonia Gandhi’s absence was another factor that led to the impasse. “A party like ours doesn’t have systems in place. It depends on strong leaders to show the way,” a senior party functionary said. “With Sonia Gandhi not around, it has created a lot of issues for us. That is why the younger lot of MPs is so agitated.”