CWC asks PM to speak to nation
The Congress Party has suggested to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that he address the nation on the issue of the Lokpal Bill, particularly in the context of social activist Anna Hazare’s decision to go on a hungerstrike in New Delhi from August 16 demanding strong and effective legislation.
The Prime Minister, on the other hand, is learnt to have decided to interact with a select group of editors here to put the record straight on the controversy, in what is being seen as a damage control exercise.
Well-placed sources said the suggestion that the Prime Minister address the nation was made at a Congress Working Committee meeting here on Friday. “A senior CWC member made this suggestion,” a source said. It is learnt that the Prime Minister could address the nation on this subject either next month or after the Lokpal Bill is tabled in Parliament. The Monsoon Session is due to begin from August 1.
Political sources said the next six months could be crucial for both the government and the party. The CWC had virtually put the government in the dock for keeping the party in the dark on issues like giving some recognition to the civil society group led by Anna Hazare, setting up a joint committee with this group to draft the Lokpal Bill, and later sending four senior ministers to Delhi airport to hold talks with yoga teacher Baba Ramdev. The Prime Minister, it is further learnt, took moral responsibility over the handling of the Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev issues.
This was perhaps the first CWC meeting at which members expressed their views openly after the party’s highest decision-making body was reconstituted. As many as 16 members took part in the deliberations, which lasted around 100 minutes. At the meeting, some members even suggested that the party, under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, should “expose” the “so-called civil society”.
Some in the party feel that the government managers have failed to tackle a series of issues which have plagued UPA-2, be it the demand for a separate Telangana, the growing Naxalite problem in Chhattisgarh or even the 2G spectrum scam. “Had we conceded the Opposition’s demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe (on the spectrum allocation scam) duirng the Winter Session of Parliament, the issue would not have gone to the courts and A. Raja and Kanimozhi would not be behind bars,” one of the party insiders felt.
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