New Delhi\Bangalore: Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare will be present in the viewers' gallery of the Parliament when the Lokpal Bill would be tabled and discussed.
"Anna will be present in the visitors' gallery when government tables the Lokpal Bill in Parliament," Mr Hazare's close aide Suresh Pathare said. His close associates, also popularly known as Team Anna, will also accompany him to Parliament House complex on the day the bill is tabled.
The Centre is planning to introduce the bill next week, before the ongoing session ends on December 22. Mr Hazare has warned of a fresh fast from December 27 if a strong Lokpal Bill is not passed. He is particularly upset after some of his key demands were not incorporated in a draft prepared by the Parliament's Standing Committee, which was tasked to study the bill that would enable the formation of the Lokpal, an ombudsman that would look into cases of corruption among public servants.
The 74-year-old Gandhian has also written yet another letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, accusing the government of betrayal in bringing a tough Lokpal Bill. (Read)
The government, meanwhile, has gone on an overdrive to ensure a smooth passage of the bill when it is introduced in Parliament. Towards that end, the Prime Minister convened an all-party meeting on Wednesday where he assured all of the government's commitment to bringing a strong and effective Lokpal in the current session of Parliament. (Read) The meeting came on the back of a broad consensus among political parties over bringing the PM and lakhs of junior bureaucrats under the ambit of the Lokpal. These proposals, among a few, are crucial to the formation of the Lokpal, Anna and his associates have said. But the government is still holding back on committing to putting the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the Lokpal's jurisdiction. It will most likely suggest that the CBI's investigative autonomy be preserved. So the agency will report to the Lokpal only on the cases assigned to it by the ombudsman. (Read: At all-party meet on Lokpal, no consensus on inclusion of CBI) But this is not acceptable to Mr Hazare who has alleged that the Centre is not willing to let go of control over the premier investigating agency. This is something that found mention in his letter to the PM today where he said that the "Lokpal is toothless without the CBI."