Politics, essentially, is the art of negotiation. By deciding to halt the anti-Congress campaign till Parliament's winter session, Anna Hazare has demonstrated a political maturity that's essential to democratic policymaking. He has assured the Congress that he will not campaign in UP elections and will instead wait for the government to bring a Lokpal Bill in the forthcoming Parliament session. There is much merit in the prime minister writing to Anna - promising a strong Lokpal Bill but also broaching the subject of anti-corruption reforms in other sectors - in a letter that's serious in tone and intent. And Rahul Gandhi has invited a delegation from Ralegan Siddhi, Anna's village, to discuss development work as well as the controversial Jan Lokpal Bill.
These welcome shifts have come in the wake of a continued war of words, with the ruling Congress and Team Anna levelling sordid accusations at each other. Now both sides need to rein in their tempers and have productive negotiations sans acrimony for drafting a strong Lokpal Bill. Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, in particular, needs to desist from throwing endless jibes at Anna. Team Anna members, too, must exercise restraint. All parties concerned need to remember that Anna's anti-graft movement, transformed into a pan-Indian phenomenon, has raised people's aspirations for corruption-free governance and systemic reforms.

Corruption will undoubtedly rank as a major poll issue in next year's assembly elections to states like UP, Gujarat and Punjab. Mention may be made in this context of the Congress's defeat in the just-concluded Hisar by-polls, even without making too much of the Anna effect. Team Anna had actively campaigned against the Congress - but the latter's candidate in any case was never in a winning position. The important issue here is that the Anna movement has rendered graft an integral part of political and governance discourse.

Amid the heightened public mood for systemic reform, all stakeholders need to concentrate on the Lokpal Bill. Culling out the most effective measures from the various versions of the anti-graft legislations will be their first task. While the UPA's Lokpal Bill is essentially ineffective, Anna's Jan Lokpal too suffers from serious flaws. Civil society worker Aruna Roy's anti-graft recommendations strike a middle path between the two. Putting together an effective legislation from this range of measures, tackling big-ticket corruption as well as routine grievances, require threadbare discussions. Both the Congress and Team Anna must live up to people's expectations by beginning this debate.