New Delhi:
At his evening address today, Anna Hazare targeted Opposition parties for not being assertive enough on the Jan Lokpal Bill, which he has drafted with his associates. "Speak up," dared the 74-year-old anti-corruption campaigner, "Why are you silent? Don't you support our bill?"
We do, declared BJP President Nitin Gadkari. He has written to Anna to say his party disagrees with "the government's hard stand during the talks to end your agitation."
"The nation was given to understand by the government that the talks with Team Anna were progressing satisfactorily and that a mutually agreed solution was in sight. I fail to understand where things have gone wrong," Gadkari said.
Gadkari said the BJP strongly deplores the "changing stance of the government and its visible hardening of postures in dealing with your agitation. The BJP warns the government against any misadventure in this regard."
Named for the independent anti-corruption agency it creates, the Lokpal Bill has three versions: One by the government, another by Team Anna, and a third by activists headed by Aruna Roy. Mr Gadkari has told Anna, "The BJP accepts the Jan Lokpal Bill as the basis for a strong Lokpal."
Anna is on the tenth day of his hunger strike demanding that Parliament must debate his Jan Lokpal Bill. The PM offered this morning that all three drafts can be discussed by Parliament after which the best features can be compiled and reviewed by a parliamentary committee.
Yesterday, senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha was among three MPs who threatened to resign because of what Mr Sinha described as "the soft stand" of the BJP on Anna's Lokpal Bill.
(With PTI inputs)