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NEW DELHI: Uttarakhand Cabinet is likely to adopt a replica of the Jan Lokpal bill on Saturday, in a clear sign of BJP hitching its wagons to Anna Hazare to be on the right side of voters in the battle of perception.
The state may bring the chief minister under Lokpal's purview and give the ombudsman suo moto powers to lodge corruption cases, search and seizure. Importantly, it could expand the Lokpal selection panel from the troika of CM, leader of opposition and chief justice of high court as is currently the case, to include some eminent citizens.
The changes will tighten the weak ombudsman institution in the hill state and help BJP adopt an anti-graft plank for the coming polls, a radical break from the negative perception about the party which forced it to bring in B C Khanduri in place of Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. Khanduri was reinstated on September 11 when BJP decided on the desperate measure to rescue its sinking ship.
The 'adoption' of Jan Lokpal would be big step in the Hazare-led focus on graft. BJP in Uttarakhand coming up with a legislation mirroring the Jan Lokpal bill to burnish its credentials would be a first of sorts that could have a ripple effect among the jittery political spectrum, with pressure on others to follow suit.
Observers feel Jan Lokpal's consecration as the reference point may refurbish Hazare's position as a power player after recent controversies which cast a shadow on his team's integrity. An aide said the Uttarakhand decision would prove that the issue was more important than allegations like Kiran Bedi's inflated bills and Arvind Kejriwal's unpaid dues to government.
The move could pile pressure on Congress which has begun to work on anti-graft measures with promised deadlines but which has continued to insist on its authorship on these initiatives.
Whether strengthening Lokpal will get BJP a repeat term in Uttarakhand is to be seen even as the opposition is hoping that Hazare's targeting of Congress would help its campaign in the clutch of coming assembly polls.
Congress is confident it can defuse Hazare's aggression by enacting the Lokpal bill in the winter session of Parliament. The standing committee is in the final stages of deliberations and may finalise the bill soon.
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