Yielding and bungling — Cong (weak) core group

Just the opposite happened. Eight weeks later,the government has scheduled two meetings of the Joint Committee to draft the Lokpal Bill on June 6 & 10 and says is determined to table it in Parliament in the next session — with or without political consensus. And today,Team Anna thumbed its nose at the government saying it would wait for a response to a letter before deciding to attend.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s letter to political parties and Chief Ministers for inputs on the proposed legislation has already been rebuffed by the BJP. The Congress has had to instruct its Chief Ministers to send a one-line input that the state government’s views are the same as those of the central leadership.

The government’s climbdown on the Lokpal Bill under pressure from activists underscores what’s being loudly whispered in ruling party circles: the failure of the Congress Core Group of Sonia Gandhi,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,Ahmed Patel and Ministers Pranab Mukherjee,P Chidambaram and A K Antony to arrive at a clear and consistent approach to issues.

Last week,when Medha Patkar went on fast in Mumbai protesting against the eviction of slumdwellers,the top leadership of the UPA was learnt to have gone into a tizzy as frantic phone calls from 7,RCR and 10,Janpath started ringing in Mantralaya. Shortly afterwards,the Maharashtra government set up two joint committees comprising civil society members to look into Patkar’s demands.

Come to Baba Ramdev and the crisis is evident all over again. Four days before the yoga guru’s planned fast,the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) met and decided a course of action that saw four Cabinet Ministers driving down to the airport to meet Ramdev.

Amid public criticism,the party tried to distance itself from this capitulation as the Congress Core Group met the next day. “We should have dealt with this Baba firmly but don’t ask me. Ask your chief negotiator (Kapil Sibal),” one of the Core Group members told a senior Congress leader who asked him about the government’s Ramdev strategy. Earlier in the day,towards the end of the Cabinet meeting,a minister asked a colleague who was involved in the negotiation,“How is Ramdevji?” A visibly piqued negotiator snapped,“What can I do if the government has decided to bend?”

After the Core Group meeting,the government decided to act and be seen as acting tough even though negotiations continued.

All this while,Congress managers sought to distance the party and its leadership from the Baba bungling. Starting with showing unhappiness about the ministers’ visit to the airport,party leaders questioned Sibal’s decision to show the controversial agreement letter written on the yoga guru’s behalf at a press conference,which,they believed,provoked Ramdev to dare the government to arrest him.