Rahul Gandhi can come out trumps if he can take the issue further by championing and bringing in a Lokpal which will be actually bigger and bolder — and yet practical — than what has been proposed by team Anna.

Remember the old detergent advertisement which showed a hardworking (with special emphasis on washing clothes!) housewife constantly wondering why her son’s white shirt never came out white enough after a wash....the tag line being “uski kameez meri kameez se safed kyon?"

It’s the Congress’ and the UPA government’s effort now to come out with a whiter, cleaner and crisper shirt than the one being offered by team Anna to the Indian masses. The shirt, of course, is an euphemism for the Lokpal bill which is supposed to be the one stop shop for eradicating all corruption and graft related evil.

So even as team Anna has upped the ante by asking people in Hisar to vote against the Congress as a punishment-cum-warning for the party’s failure to give a written undertaking to pass the Jan Lokpal bill in the winter session and Lal Krishna Advani is trying to hijack the anti-graft agenda for the benefit of his party and himself, the Congress is trying to regain the initiative by saying that they will give constitutional status to the Lokpal and make it much more powerful than envisaged by anyone – team Anna included — so far.

So in one stroke the Congress party is trying to change the rules of the game.

The debate till now was between the pro and anti Lokpal groups. All those who were anti were dubbed as corrupt and co opted by the system while those supporting it were seen as the messiahs trying to lead a crusade to change our corrupt, archaic and inefficient system.

If Congress has its way the debate going forward will not be who is for and against Lokpal but whose Lokpal is bigger, better and stronger.

It was not without reason that Rahul Gandhi called his proposal of giving the Lokpal constitutional status a “game changer”.

So we now have the Law Minister Salman Khurshid saying that the government will seek a constitutional amendment to establish a Lokpal who will not only enjoy statutory powers but will be stronger than even the Election Commission.

The Prime Minister’s letter to Anna Hazare is also an exercise aimed at conveying the message that this government is committed to an operation clean up, whether it’s the issue of Lokpal or electoral reforms. The Prime Minister’s letter even talks about the right to recall though the message comes with the "need to build consensus in a parliamentary democracy" rider.

Most analysts will be quite cynical about this effort of the UPA and the Congress party to try and come across as being even more keen and earnest on the issue of corruption than Anna Hazare. In their analysis this is nothing more than a PR move and there will be no efforts – sincere or half hearted — to back this talk. In short the consensus amongst pundits will most likely be dismiss this as another Congress gimmick aimed at confusing people and some how stop team Anna from becoming the sole franchisee of brand corruption in the country.

The cynics may well turn out to be right.

But I think otherwise.

It’s now Rahul versus Anna on the issue of whose Lokpal is better, more effective and convincing. The stakes are higher for Rahul on this one as Anna has very little to lose. Whatever happens Anna has reserved a place for himself as someone who has brought the issue of corruption centre stage.

Rahul Gandhi can come out trumps if he can take the issue further by championing and bringing in a Lokpal which will be actually bigger and bolder — and yet practical — than what has been proposed by team Anna. I think team Rahul has thought through this one. Unlikely it may sound right now, but the Congress may well have the last word on the issue of Lokpal.