Anti-graft bill victory boosts Indian government

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NEW DELHI, Dec 28 (agencies): India's government sighed with relief Wednesday after parliament's lower house passed an anti-corruption bill that has become a political albatross around the neck of Premier Manmohan Singh's coalition. The bill, creating a powerful ombudsman to probe graft among senior politicians and civil servants, was passed by a voice vote in the Lok Sabha late Tuesday after a fractious debate. The legislation has dominated the political agenda in India for months, piling pressure on Singh's administration which was already the target of fierce criticism over a series of high-profile corruption scandals. The government had to redraft an earlier version in the wake of mass protests across the country in August, spearheaded by hunger-striking activist Anna Hazare who insisted the proposed bill was too weak. Hazare and opposition parties had opposed the re-draft on the same grounds, and the 74-year-old activist began a fresh, three-day public fast on Tuesday in Mumbai to try to pressure parliament into rejecting the bill. There was no immediate reaction from the Hazare camp to the vote in the lower house. His supporters had promised to pursue a campaign of civil disobedience if the bill was passed. The government's victory was tempered by its failure to get the two-thirds majority required to make the bill a constitutional amendment. "This is a bit of disappointment that it could not be passed," Singh said afterwards. It was a personal defeat for Rahul Gandhi, scion of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty and widely tipped as future prime minister, who had initiated the move to give the ombudsman's office constitutional status. There is also a strong chance that final passage of the bill could be delayed as it faces a rough ride in the upper house of parliament, where Singh's ruling coalition is in the minority.