Congress Parliamentary Party to meet on Thursday over Anna issue

Grappling with Anna Hazare's fast, Congress leadership is expected to interact with party MPs on the issue on Thursday.

A meeting of Congress Parliamentary Party is being convened at a time when there are growing concerns among the party MPs over the fallout of Hazare's anti-corruption agitation in their constituencies.

Young MPs like Sandeep Dikshit, Priya Dutt, Sanjya Nirupam, Naveen Jindal and others have voiced their concern over the issue. While Dikshit dubbed Hazare's arrest a "wrong" move, Dutt has found fault with the government's Lokpal bill dubbing it as "weak".

Party MP from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh Praveen Singh Aron has already submitted a copy of Hazare's Jan Lokpal Bill before the Standing Committee headed by Abhishek Singhvi, which is examining the Jan Lokpal Bill.

"Tomorrow, there is all-party meeting. A day after, a meeting of Congress members of Parliament is perhaps being called This is how we gather inputs, discuss and express our concerns," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters outside Parliament.

Top Congress sources Tuesday said they expected some forward movement after tomorrow's all-party meeting and hoped for a resolution of the issue by week-end expressing concern over Hazare's health condition.

Soni declined to give a categorical answer when asked whether the government is hopeful of any concrete result coming out of the all-party meeting.

"I can't prophesize that one meeting will lead to a solution or will there will be a solution after another meeting. I can only hope that dialogue leads to a solution," she said.