The final act of the Lokpal saga will be scripted at a meeting of all political parties which has begun. The government heads there with its latest formulaversion of the Lokpal Bill and the hope that it will find meeting ground with Opposition parties on points that had so far remained unresolved.
The contours of the new peace formula took shape as the Prime Minister held discussions on the phone with many political leaders of different parties on Monday; he was reportedly successful in pitching the new version that seems to have the blessing of most big political players.
So the government expects broad consensus at today's meeting on key points like the Lokpal being allowed to investigate the Prime Minister, though with safeguards. The suggestion reportedly found favour with the UPA allies at a meeting held on Tuesday evening. Sources say the allies have also indicated their willingness to the inclusion of the lower bureaucracy under the ambit of the Lokpal. And at today's meeting, all parties are expected to approve this, they added.
Only one sticking point seemed to remain as Wednesday dawned - how much control the Lokpal should have over the CBI.
Sources say that CBI Director AP Singh, who met the Prime Minister today, told him that the agency was willing to accept the Lokpal as its new boss, but the ombudsman must then be the body with supervisory powers over the CBI. The CBI also wants all administrative, financial and legal powers to be vested in the agency's chief.
This seems to match the blueprint suggested by the BJP. The opposition party has said that what it wants is investigative independence for the agency, and its complete disassociation from the government. So the director of the CBI must be appointed independently and not by the government, the BJP says. "If the CBI is controlled by the government," said the BJP's Arun Jaitley to NDTV, "it will become a toy. Because the investigating arm of the Lokpal will be under the government." Mr Jaitley said that his party wants the administrative functions of the CBI to be brought under the Lokpal's ambit. Sources say the CBI chief told the PM that any attempts to bifurcate the agency will be damaging.
(Read: Highlights of what Mr Jaitley told NDTV)Activist Anna Hazare and others who have been championing the need for a strong Lokpal want the ombudsman to be the CBI's boss. Unless this is done, they argue, the Lokpal will serve as nothing more than a post office, receiving complaints from the public and then passing them onto the CBI. But even Team Anna disagrees with the role of the CBI as envisaged by a parliamentary committee that submitted its report on the Lokpal Bill last week.
The government's new proposal reportedly pitches that only the CBI's prosecution wing will be under the Lokpal's supervision, while its investigation and administration wings will be independent.
Mr Jaitley said that at this evening's meeting with the PM, the BJP would stress the urgent need to change how the Director of the CBI and other senior officers are appointed. Currently, these officers are selected by the government and the CBI's administrative control lies with the Department of Personnel and Training in the government. The government's new formula proposes that the PM, Lokpal chair and the leader of the opposition will appoint the CBI Director.
The BJP has also held as valid the CBI's opposition to the parliamentary committee's recommendation that its closure or final reports on a case to be approved by the Lokpal.
At a meeting of UPA partners yesterday, some of the Congress' allies, reportedly expressed concern about the inclusion of the CBI under the Lokpal. At that meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi discussed the government's peace formula with their allies and Home Minister P Chidambaram said the discussion was "useful". "There was a broad consensus between the UPA allies. We will present our views at the all-party meeting tomorrow. We hope the meeting will be productive and will help us draft an effective Bill," Mr Chidambaram added.
Sources say that during the meeting, the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, the Chairman of Parliament's Standing Committee that studied the Bill, briefed the allies on the implications of the Bill.
The anti-corruption bill has been championed by activist Anna Hazare. He is meeting his team of activists today in Delhi to assess whether the Bill is strong enough for him to call off a hunger strike scheduled for December 27. Over the next two days, the team of activists will also discuss the administrative details of where and how their next agitation should be held, if necessary. They will also be watching keenly what emerges from today's all-party meeting.
There are reports that some Team Anna members met CBI officials, to discuss the the agency's role, thought the CBI has denied there's been any meeting. "We support CBI's protest and believe that the Standing Committee's report is dangerous and should be rejected," Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal told reporters here. He said the recommendations, if implemented, would cripple the functioning of the CBI.
Anna today also objected to the Citizens' Charter being cleared as a separate Bill. To prove its intent in checking graft, the Union Cabinet cleared that and the Judicial Accountability Bill on Tuesday. But Anna says he wanted this as an intrinsic part of the Lokpal and that Parliament had unanimously approved that by a "sense of the House" in August which must be honoured.
The 74-year-old Gandhian has said that unless the final bill includes his demands, he will use a fast to launch a new campaign in which he would urge people to "fill every jail in India." That fresh campaign could see a new Anna hungerstrike begin on December 27.