New Delhi:
Anna Hazare will try to persuade Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to include the post of Prime Minister in the Lokpal when he meets her today. Team Anna is also scheduled to meet CPI's AB Bardhan later today.
The Gandhian activist has been in the Capital since Monday meeting leaders of political parties - amongst them Ajit Singh of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, and senior BJP leader LK Advani - before a crucial all-party meet on July 3 that will discuss the draft for the Lokpal bill. (Read: Team Anna briefs Advani)
Mr Hazare said he did not understand why the Prime Minister couldn't build consensus amongst his Cabinet colleagues. "The Cabinet belongs to India, the people in the Cabinet are our people. So what is their problem in taking the decision? They should be able to take it for the country. We are going to meet all the parties now including the BJP. We will also meet Sonia ji and tell her that if the PM is saying this then what is the problem? "
The Lokpal Bill, which is meant to check corruption within politicians and bureaucrats, was being drafted for the first time by a committee that included non-elected activists like Mr Hazare. The joint effort between the government and these activists ended in chaos - ministers on the committee have delivered one draft of the Bill, Team Anna has prepared another. Their irreconcilable differences are topped by whether the Lokpal Bill should apply to the Prime Minister's Office.(Read: Team Anna's draft of the Lokpal Bill | Government's version)
"I have no hesitation in bringing myself under the purview of Lokpal but many of my Cabinet colleagues feel that bringing the institution of Prime Minister under it will create instability," Dr Singh told a gathering of editors earlier today.(Read: PM meets editors, talks Lokpal)
Slamming the PM's remarks, the BJP has said his stand on Lokpal Bill is "surprising." (Watch)
Mr Hazare's team says their draft in its entirety cannot be excluded from the discussion on July 3. "The government will reach out to civil society but no group can insist that their views are the last word," said the Prime Minister today.(Watch: Editors describe what the PM said about Anna Hazare)
Reacting to Dr Singh's remarks, Kiran Bedi, Mr Hazare's close associate in the Lokpal Bill campaign, said they were for an open debate and had approached the government for it. "Every view has to be a reasoned one. Which is why Team Anna was constantly asking for an open debate to be called by the government members or come and listen to people to narrow the disconnect. People's perceptions are being widely published countrywide through reports, surveys and studies, which are speaking the widespread malaise of corruption. These too cannot be ignored," Ms Bedi told PTI.
She added, "The Prime Minister shall perhaps need to go by his personal call of conscience and take a stand like he did on nuclear power."
(With PTI inputs)
The Gandhian activist has been in the Capital since Monday meeting leaders of political parties - amongst them Ajit Singh of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, and senior BJP leader LK Advani - before a crucial all-party meet on July 3 that will discuss the draft for the Lokpal bill. (Read: Team Anna briefs Advani)
Mr Hazare said he did not understand why the Prime Minister couldn't build consensus amongst his Cabinet colleagues. "The Cabinet belongs to India, the people in the Cabinet are our people. So what is their problem in taking the decision? They should be able to take it for the country. We are going to meet all the parties now including the BJP. We will also meet Sonia ji and tell her that if the PM is saying this then what is the problem? "
The Lokpal Bill, which is meant to check corruption within politicians and bureaucrats, was being drafted for the first time by a committee that included non-elected activists like Mr Hazare. The joint effort between the government and these activists ended in chaos - ministers on the committee have delivered one draft of the Bill, Team Anna has prepared another. Their irreconcilable differences are topped by whether the Lokpal Bill should apply to the Prime Minister's Office.(Read: Team Anna's draft of the Lokpal Bill | Government's version)
"I have no hesitation in bringing myself under the purview of Lokpal but many of my Cabinet colleagues feel that bringing the institution of Prime Minister under it will create instability," Dr Singh told a gathering of editors earlier today.(Read: PM meets editors, talks Lokpal)
Slamming the PM's remarks, the BJP has said his stand on Lokpal Bill is "surprising." (Watch)
Mr Hazare's team says their draft in its entirety cannot be excluded from the discussion on July 3. "The government will reach out to civil society but no group can insist that their views are the last word," said the Prime Minister today.(Watch: Editors describe what the PM said about Anna Hazare)
Reacting to Dr Singh's remarks, Kiran Bedi, Mr Hazare's close associate in the Lokpal Bill campaign, said they were for an open debate and had approached the government for it. "Every view has to be a reasoned one. Which is why Team Anna was constantly asking for an open debate to be called by the government members or come and listen to people to narrow the disconnect. People's perceptions are being widely published countrywide through reports, surveys and studies, which are speaking the widespread malaise of corruption. These too cannot be ignored," Ms Bedi told PTI.
She added, "The Prime Minister shall perhaps need to go by his personal call of conscience and take a stand like he did on nuclear power."
(With PTI inputs)
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