The opposition BJP will factor in the views of the Anna Hazare team and keep in mind provisions in the Lokpal Bills its government introduced in 1998 and 2001 including bringing the Prime Minister under the Lokpal ambit while deciding its stance on the contentious issues that would be spelt out at the all-party meeting convened by the government on July 3. On Friday,Arvind Kejriwal,Kiran Bedi and Manish Sisodia key members of the Hazares civil society team met top BJP leader L K Advani and briefed him about the deliberations they have had with the government over the last two months which ultimately ended bitterly. They also handed Advani their as well as the governments Lokpal drafts. I told them we will sit before the July 3 meeting. Some of our leaders are not now in Delhi. I told them we want to understand your point of view before we decide what to say at that meeting, Advani told The Indian Express. So far,the BJP has avoided making its stand clear on issues like whether the PM or the higher judiciary should be brought within the Lokpal purview. Sources in the BJP said informal discussions are on at various levels within the party and stressed the party was conscious of what had happened during the A B Vajpayee-led NDA governments time. They pointed out Vajpayee was strongly in favour of bringing the Prime Minister under the Lokpal,hence the Bills reflected his wish. That the contents of the Bills is being kept in mind during in-house deliberations meant the party may not like to alter its stand on the PM issue. At the same time,sources said,there was a lack of consensus on the issue,although the dominant view was that the PM,excluding his acts related to national security and maintenance of public order,should be in. Sources in the BJP said it does not agree with many of the demands put forth by Team Anna,like bringing the higher judiciary under the ambit of Lokpal. As part of their attempts to drum up support,the civil society representatives also met CPI general secretary A B Bardhan,who has sought some clarifications on their draft.
