New Delhi:
Thanks to his fast, Mr Anna Hazare is now part of a panel with top Union ministers to draft a bill against corrupt politicians.
But Mr Hazare, who found unprecedented support and forced the government to accept his demands, is standing his ground against politicians, including Union minister Sharad Pawar.
"In democracy, leaders should do what the people say. If public asks them to resign, they should do it. Corrupt people should not be in power. They should ethically move aside because this affects the society," Mr Hazare said.
Mr Hazare, who earlier criticised Sonia Gandhi for not responding to his letter, today said that probably the UPA chairperson didn't know before who Anna Hazare was. (
Read: Who is Anna Hazare?)
"At first Sonia may not have known who I was. She must have wondered who is this Anna Hazare? Then she found out that the entire country was behind me," he said.
Mr Hazare also had some tough words for the government.
"People are saying that Anna Hazare is blackmailing the government, that we are pressurising the government. If it is for the benefit of the nation, we will continue this blackmail as long as we live," he said.
Last week saw lakhs of people from all backgrounds coming out in his support every hour. And if the government buckled within a couple of days, the main Opposition party today promised to help pass the Lokpal Bill in the Monsoon Session of Parliament. (
Read: What is Jan Lokpal Bill?)
Incidentally, various government, including the BJP and other alliances, have kept even a watered down version of this bill pending for 42 years.
"Don't just introduce the bill, pass the bill in the next session. So far as we are concerned, we will be willing to do it, there will be no difficulty," senior BJP leader LK Advani said.
But cooperation between the government and the Opposition on the bill cannot be taken for granted. There has already been some mudslinging on the issue.
"What prevented Mr Advani and his government from 1998 to 2004 to get the Lokpal Bill enacted? If it prevails upon his members in the Lok Sabha, we will be too glad to get it passed without sending it to Standing Committee," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said. (
Watch)
"Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi as Congress president, both of them are running this establishment which is corrupt from top to toe. I have not seen a more corrupt government in my entire political life," Advani said.
Hazare's camp itself got off to a rocky start after their victory on Saturday, denying charges of a divide. Yoga guru Ramdev, a supporter of the campaign during the hunger strike, today denied that he had alleged nepotism in the inclusion Hazare's fellow activists - father and son Shanti and Prashant Bhushan - in the panel. (
Watch: Nepotism created by media, says Baba Ramdev)
Then Kiran Bedi denied she wanted to be part of the joint panel.
Hazare said that people were on the panel on merit, and that membership was not representational. (
Watch: No differences among us, says Anna)
The panel is expected to meet this week to begin drafting the bill, which perhaps for the first time in recent history, will be scrutinised by lakhs of people.
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