New Delhi:
Gandhian Anna Hazare wanted to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi to try and bring her around to his side of the Lokpal debate, but the meeting is not taking place today.
The Congress chief has not given Mr Hazare an appointment.
Mr Hazare is meeting political leaders across the board to build a consensus on the Bill that members of the civil society have drafted - a key element of which is to include the Prime Minister under the purview of the Lokpal.
The Congress says it has already made its stand on the Lokpal Bill clear to Team Anna. The highest decision-making body of the party, the Congress Working Committee, has endorsed the other draft Bill, the one prepared by the government and the government too is attempting to build political consensus for its version by calling for an all-party meeting on Sunday.
Anna Hazare is making frantic efforts to try and ensure that his voice is present at that crucial meeting on July 3. He met Ajit Singh of the Rashtriya Lok Dal yesterday and had hoped to meet Sonia Gandhi today. He also met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Delhi today and is scheduled to meet the CPI's AB Bardhan. The team is also slated to meet BJP leader LK Advani on Friday.
Mr Hazare has said he does not understand why the Prime Minister cannot build a 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."
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 on Wednesday. (Read: PM meets editors, talks Lokpal)
Slamming the PM's remarks, the BJP has said his stand on Lokpal Bill is "surprising."
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," the Prime Minister said on Wednesday.(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."
In the course of his campaign for the Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare wrote several letters to Sonia Gandhi. In these letters, he reacted sharply to Congress leaders accusing him of having links with the RSS and the BJP. He wrote to Sonia Gandhi that he was hurt by Congress leaders' "smear campaign" and that it was a conspiracy to defame him. In another letter, he also urged Sonia Gandhi to discuss the Lokpal draft in the National Advisory Council.
In her reply to Anna, Sonia Gandhi said he should not doubt her commitment to fight corruption. She also said she strongly believed in the institution of Lokpal and that Lokpal Bill is very much on NAC agenda.
(With PTI inputs)
The Congress chief has not given Mr Hazare an appointment.
Mr Hazare is meeting political leaders across the board to build a consensus on the Bill that members of the civil society have drafted - a key element of which is to include the Prime Minister under the purview of the Lokpal.
The Congress says it has already made its stand on the Lokpal Bill clear to Team Anna. The highest decision-making body of the party, the Congress Working Committee, has endorsed the other draft Bill, the one prepared by the government and the government too is attempting to build political consensus for its version by calling for an all-party meeting on Sunday.
Anna Hazare is making frantic efforts to try and ensure that his voice is present at that crucial meeting on July 3. He met Ajit Singh of the Rashtriya Lok Dal yesterday and had hoped to meet Sonia Gandhi today. He also met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Delhi today and is scheduled to meet the CPI's AB Bardhan. The team is also slated to meet BJP leader LK Advani on Friday.
Mr Hazare has said he does not understand why the Prime Minister cannot build a 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."
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 on Wednesday. (Read: PM meets editors, talks Lokpal)
Slamming the PM's remarks, the BJP has said his stand on Lokpal Bill is "surprising."
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," the Prime Minister said on Wednesday.(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."
In the course of his campaign for the Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare wrote several letters to Sonia Gandhi. In these letters, he reacted sharply to Congress leaders accusing him of having links with the RSS and the BJP. He wrote to Sonia Gandhi that he was hurt by Congress leaders' "smear campaign" and that it was a conspiracy to defame him. In another letter, he also urged Sonia Gandhi to discuss the Lokpal draft in the National Advisory Council.
In her reply to Anna, Sonia Gandhi said he should not doubt her commitment to fight corruption. She also said she strongly believed in the institution of Lokpal and that Lokpal Bill is very much on NAC agenda.
(With PTI inputs)
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