Team Anna on Friday made it clear that a mere discussion in Parliament will not serve any purpose, and that the Gandhian will not call off his fast till the Parliament passes a resolution that the cleared Lokpal Bill will include the three contentious points raised by them.
“Mere discussion will not be enough,” lawyer Prashant Bhushan, a Team Anna member, told reporters here after a meeting with CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat.
He said Mr. Hazare had made it clear that he will break his fast only if the Parliament passes a resolution “adopting or indicating clearly” that the Lokpal, which will be passed, includes the three issues.
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“Therefore, we need to see what the Parliament does on this.
"There is no point in just discussing it. We had discussed it for the past 42 years and eight times it was introduced in the Parliament,” Mr. Bhushan said.
Mr. Bhushan’s remarks came as the government earlier said that discussion on Jan Lokpal Bill as demanded by Mr. Hazare may not be possible in Lok Sabha during the day. There were reports that some MPs had given notice for discussion on the Lokpal issue under a section which does not entail voting.
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Government sources on Thursday night said that a motion will be brought to facilitate a combined discussion on the Lokpal Bill, the Jan Lokpal Bill brought out by Mr. Hazare as also the drafts prepared by activist Aruna Roy and Jai Prakash Narain.
He said there are rules under which the issue can be discussed. “Every rule in Parliament can be waived by a motion. If they want to discuss (the bill), they can do so,” he said.
Addressing protesters at Ramlila Maidan where Mr. Hazare is sitting on a fast, another Team Anna member Kiran Bedi echoed Mr. Bhushan’s views, and said Mr. Hazare will end the fast once Parliament passes a resolution which includes three sticky issues - all civil servants should be brought under Lokpal, a Citizen Charter should be displayed at all government offices, and all states should have Lokayukta.