Ralegan Siddhi:
Gandhian Anna Hazare has confirmed that he met Law Minister Salman Khurshid privately near Pune late last month. Anna, who is 75, acknowledged the meeting to the activists who work most closely with him only recently.
Mr Hazare held a press conference in his hometown Ralegan Siddhi today. Here are the highlights of what he said.
- I had said will disclose at right time, that time has come now.
- I got a message from Salman Khurshid that he wants to discuss something on Lokpal. I met him on June 23.
- He wanted to ascertain my views on what type of Lokpal they want. I told him about the three assurances given by PM.
- Salman Khurshid asked me to keep the meeting a secret, I agreed
- He wanted me not to continue with the July 25 hunger strike.
- MP Rajkumar Dhoot organised the meeting. I see no harm in meeting for national good.
- I have written to PM Manmohan Singh. I feel Narayanasamy's (Minister in the PMO) letter to Team Anna is a conspiracy.
- The government has tried to hatch another conspiracy. They're trying to mislead, create differences among our team.
- We will decide future course of action if govt fails to accept our demands of probe against 15 ministers.