Bharatiya Janata Party President Nitin Gadkari on Thursday announced that Team Anna's Jan Lokpal Bill could form the basis of discussions on Lokpal bill in the parliament. Gadkari said that other versions of the bill like the one presented by social activist Aruna Roy and Lok Satta President Dr Jayaprakash Narayan could also be looked at.
"My party has been and will continue to be solidly behind your movement against corruption. We have always been and are for a strong Lokpal. For that to happen, BJP accepts your draft Jan Lokpal Bill to be the basis for a strong and effective Lokpal to be put in place at the earliest without getting into procedural wrangles," BJP President Nitin Gadkari said in his letter to Hazare.
In a hurriedly called up press conference Gadkari said that keeping in mind the bad health of Anna Hazare the government should do away with parliamentary procedures and take up the Jan Lokpal bill for discussion.
Anna Hazare had earlier targeted the BJP and opposition parties for not being assertive enough on the Jan Lokpal Bill. "Speak up," dared the 75-year-old anti-corruption campaigner, "Why are you silent? Don't you support our bill?" asked Hazare.
Gadkari said he had written to Hazare to say that his party disagrees with the government's hard stand during the talks.
"The nation was given to understand by the government that the talks with Team Anna were progressing satisfactorily and that a mutually agreed solution was in sight. I fail to understand where things have gone wrong," Gadkari said.
Gadkari said the BJP strongly deplores the "changing stance of the government and its visible hardening of postures in dealing with Anna Hazare's agitation. The BJP warns the government against any misadventure in this regard".
