Political parties shift loyalties with Lokpal

The last time Hazare sat on a one-day fast at Jantar Mantar in the national capital, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D Raja shared the dias with Team Anna along with CPM MP Brinda Karat and BJP leader Arun Jaitley. Raja, a Rajya Sabha MP,  supported many of the contentious demands of the civil rights activist for incorporation in the Lokpal bill.

On Thursday, Raja’s veteran colleague in the Lok Sabha, Gurdas Dasgupta lashed out at Hazare for holding out threats of hunger strikes and forcing Parliament to make law that pleases him. In a blistering attack on the civil rights activist and his team, Dasgupa said, “an ex-policeman” (Kiran Bedi) and another man “who claims to be another Father of the Nation” are claiming to be sole “crusaders” against corruption.  

“There is no single crusader against corruption,” he thundered. The CPI leader referred to Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj’s reference to the proposed hunger suicide and counselled, “don’t be afraid of hunger strike”.

Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee, however, put the CPI leader on the backfoot by drawing attention to the fact that another CPI leader had shared stage with Hazare not too long ago.

BJP’s long-time ally in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) - Shiv Sena - had struck a diametrically opposite stand by outright rejecting the Jan Lokpal demand of Team Anna. Ananth Geete of Shiv Sena quoted his party supremo Bal Thackeray, who he said was against “dictatorship by the Lokpal”.  

BJP partymen, whose senior members Arun Jaitley and S S Ahluwalia from the Upper House sat in the Lok Sabha visitors’ gallery to update themselves on the fast changing Lokpal draft, kept their fingers crossed on the issue.

Outside the Lok Sabha, the situation was even more fluid with some of the top leaders suggesting that the “Lokpal script may change substantially” by next week. When asked whether it would meet the fate of Women’s reservation bill, they said “hope not”.