The BJP & Team Anna

With privilege notices slapped on some Team Anna members, the BJP on Sunday said it did not endorse the move, saying MPs should show largeheartedness and not get provoked by “uncharitable” comments by civil society. “The reputation of an MP is secured not by privilege motions but by the power of public opinion. The testimony of public opinion is the real staple of a politician,” BJP general secretary Ravishankar Prasad said. Team Anna members Kiran Bedi, Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal were slapped with breach of privilege notices for their remarks on MPs.

BJP supports Anna Hazare as a symbol in battle against corruption but does not accept his political leadership, senior party leader Arun Jaitley has said. “It’s not an acceptance of a new party leader. He's not in party politics. He doesn't accept my party, we have not accepted his political leadership. But in the battle of corruption, he has become a symbol and there is no difficulty at all in honouring him on that,” Jaitley said in an interview to a television news channel. He was reacting to BJP president Nitin Gadkari’s statement a week ago, after Hazare called of his fast. Gadkari had said that BJP will always be ready to rally around Hazare and that his party was ready to march under his leadership if the need arose to fulfill the Gandhian’s dream of a corruption-free India. Jaitley said he felt the reference was to the anti-corruption movement and the remarks made by the BJP president were metaphorical. “It's not a movement of political parties, it’s even unlike the JP movement. Therefore, since Anna has led this movement, and I think this movement is a positive development, it's a kind of support to the spirit of that movement,” he said. The leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said the question of political leadership did not arise because Hazare was “not in the business of politics.” Asked if senior BJP leader LK Advani had committed BJP to the original Jan Lokpal Bill, he said that at the meeting with Team Anna, both sides had moderated their positions. “They moderated their position, we moderated our position and our positions became extremely close to each other. And I think the fact that supporting them on those issues became clear. And when Sushma Swaraj and I moved resolutions in both Houses of Parliament for a vote, we had all those 9 ingredients, the major ingredients on which we agree with them as a part of that resolution. And, they supported it, we supported those 9 points,” Jaitley said. Hazare’s aide Kiran Bedi had claimed that her 'ghunghat' act was a game changer because Advani had called her up after that and assured her that BJP would support the Jan Lokpal. Onbringing the Prime Minister within the ambit of Lokpal, Jaitley said, “They may not have said this publicly (about some exceptions being made). But in our meetings with them they were equally clear. They are a responsible group. They have no difficulty provided these exceptions are carved out with some element of discretion,” adds