M A I N   N E W S

Frayed tempers, hectic parleys precede agreement
Anita Katyal
Our Political Correspondent

New Delhi, August 27
The government was understandably relieved when Anna Hazare declared tonight that he would break his 12-day fast tomorrow after he received a formal letter from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh informing him about the agreement in Parliament on his three demands.

The agreement was, however, preceded by day-long hectic behind-the-scenes confabulations in Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s room in Parliament House which was the hub of all activity today. Mukherjee held a series of meetings with his own colleagues and opposition leaders to arrive at a formula which would ensure that Parliamentary procedures are not short-circuited and, at the same time, will satisfy Team Anna.

The discussions got underway shortly after Mukherjee’s opening statement in both Houses of Parliament in the morning and continued till late afternoon as the leaders went through several drafts before they were able to agree on the final formulation. There was quibbling over the words to be used and the form in which it was to be presented as the rules under which the discussion was being held did not allow for the adoption of a formal resolution or call for a vote.

There was, however a sense of urgency in these meetings as the overriding concern was to make sure that Anna Hazare ended his fast at the earliest. “Something had to be done to give him that level of comfort,” admitted a senior Cabinet minister, adding that the mood was to do everything possible to defuse situation.

Mukherjee began with a long meeting with Law minister Salman Khursheed, Minister for Science and Technology Vilasrao Deshmukh and Lok Sabha MP Sandeep Dikshit, who have been mediating with Anna Hazare and his associates over the past several days. He then consulted BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj to seek their help in drafting a unanimous agreement. Jaitley, it is learnt, insisted that the three points raised by Anna Hazare must be spelt out but should also be Constitutionally compatible.Shortly after, television channels flashed that Parliament would not be adopting a formal resolution on their three demands at the end of the day-long debate. Tensions ran high as angry members of Team Anna launched an offensive against the government and the BJP, accusing them of reneging on their promise and demanding that they move a resolution and vote on it. Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal, key members of Team Anna, who were waiting to meet Khursheed at his residence, walked out in a huff and went to Ramlila Grounds to launch a diatribe against Parliament.

A grim-faced Mukherjee then invited BJP patriarch L.K.Advani, Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj for a fresh round of discussions. A nervous Swaraj promptly told news channels that the BJP was in agreement with Anna Hazare’s demands and was ready to vote on a resolution. Although an angry Advani questioned Mukherjee during the meeting about how the government was unnecessarily involving the BJP as this problem was created by the ruling coalition, Jaitley was involved in arriving at an unanimous solution to this crisis.The leaders then moved to the Prime Minister’s office where the draft was finalised.

While one formulation had began by saying that “ this House “approves” but it was shot down as it would have meant that Parliament was giving a commitment even before the Lokpal Bill had been discussed and considered by Parliament. Similarly, it was at the insistence of CPM leader Sitaram Yechruy that the words “ in principle” were incorporated.