The parliamentary panel examining the anti-graft Lokpal Bill on Thursday began its final two-day meeting with Anna Hazare's team, which demanded 34 amendments in the government's bill and asked for the Uttarakhand bill to be treated as a model at the national level.
Hazare is expected to
join his team on Friday, during which members of the parliamentary standing committee on law and justice will have a question-and-answer session with Team Anna. Hazare's colleagues appeared agreeable to the idea of providing a constitutional status to the Lokpal, first suggested by Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, but want an assurance that it should not cause any delay in passing the bill.
Team Anna was represented by Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan, Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal.
"We had a good and positive meeting in which we explained the amendments we are seeking in the government's bill, to bring in line with Uttarakhand's Lokayukta Bill," Prashant Bhushan said after the two-hour meeting.
Kejriwal said Team Anna suggested to the committee to make the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Bill as a model. "The Centre should also follow the same model," he said.
"If a constitutional amendment is being made, then the Law Commission's recommendation of 2001 to amend Article 105 should be accepted. It states that if MPs speak in Parliament or vote on the basis of bribe taken by them, then the investigation should be held independently," Kejriwal said.