Thaindian News

New Delhi, Aug 26 (IANS) Parliament was convened for a special sitting Saturday in a bid to end the dragging fast by Anna Hazare even as Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi said that a Lokpal bill could not alone end corruption, prompting Team Anna to hit back.

The 74-year-old Hazare looked far weaker Friday on the 11th day of his hunger strike that has galvanized tens of thousands across the country and sparked a war in parliament between the Congress and the opposition.

Calling his suggestion “a game-changer”, Gandhi said: “Witnessing the events of the last few days it would appear that the enactment of a single bill will usher in a corruption free society. I have serious doubts about this belief.

“An effective Lokpal law is only one element in the legal framework to combat corruption. The Lokpal institution alone cannot be a substitute for a comprehensive anti-corruption code.”

Gandhi, 41, also suggested that the Lokpal be given constitutional status equivalent to the Election Commission.

Gandhi’s speech caused an uproar.

But even as he hailed the soldier-turned-activist for articulating the feelings of disillusionment over widespread corruption in India, Hazare’s aides insisted that their Jan Lokpal bill should be passed first.

Saying he too favoured constitutional status for the ombudsman, Hazare aide Shanti Bhushan said: “First, let us at least have a legal (statutory) authority as demanded by Anna Hazare.”

Added Hazare confidante Kiran Bedi: “Show the intent behind these lofty ideas by taking the first step with the Jan Lokpal bill.”

After another day of disturbances in the Lok Sabha, the government announced that parliament will function Saturday, indicating that varying versions of the Lokpal bill will finally be discussed.

Team Anna has said that if the house passes a resolution agreeing in principle to set up Lokayuktas in states, frame Citizen’s Charters for all government departments and include lower bureaucracy in the Lokpal bill, Hazare would end his fast. For 11 days, he has survived on water.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded a discussion in parliament on the various versions of the Lokpal bill under rules that entail voting.

Concern continued to mount over the failing health of Hazare, who looked pale as he spent Friday mostly lying down. Occasionally he sat up and waved feebly to the thousands at the Ramlila ground.

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, whose party has often been at the receiving end of Hazare’s earlier fasts, spoke to the anti-corruption crusader from Mumbai on telephone voicing concern over his health.

He also sent his grandson Aditya Thackeray to meet the fasting leader, who has lost seven kg since the fast began.

In New Delhi, a young man wearing an ‘I Am Anna’ T-shirt entered the parliament complex and shouted slogans hailing Hazare before he was seized by security personnel.

Some 100 people raised slogans outside Rahul Gandhi’s house on Tughlaq Lane.

On Wednesday and Thursday, small groups demonstrated outside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s official residence, prompting the authorities to shut down four Delhi Metro stations for a few hours.

Meanwhile, Hazare has told Manmohan Singh that his campaign was not directed at any individual or party.

“Out agitation is against the corrupt system and if by chance any words uttered by me or any other members have hurt you or any other person, then I regret.”