Anna reiterates support to Lokpal on EC lines
After much hiccups, anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare on Friday reiterated his previous day’s contention on forming the proposed Jan Lokpal on the lines of the Election Commission.
Hazare, however, charged that the brouhaha generated by the Congress move to introduce FDI (Foreign Direct Investment ) in multi-brand retail was “a ruse to deflect people’s attention from the anti-corruption movement.”
On Thursday, Hazare had dropped ample hints of being agreeable to Jan Lokpal as a constitutional body, an idea first mooted by Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on the floor of the Parliament. However, Team Anna had shot down the idea on the ground that the ruling party was trying to buy time and circumvent the passage of the Jan Lokpal bill.
Later in the day, the Gandhian avoided responding to media questions on the matter. He said: “I do not want to talk about it. Nor do I know what you are talking...I will talk to Kejriwal and then only talk to you.”
At the Friday’s press meet at Ralegan Siddi, Hazare did not specify whether he had consulted or debated the sudden volta face on the ‘contentious issue’ with his core team members. He did, however, make it very clear that he had no objections to the idea of carving out an anti-corruption body having a locus standi akin to the Election Commission.
Anna pointed out:“Care should be taken while sketching out its (anti-graft institution’s) powers so that the institution does not succumb to governmental pressures,” adding, “We had never objected to the idea...in fact it was Congress which had been opposing it. He (Rahul Gandhi) just spoke about it...he was never serious about it like any other Congressman.”
Hazare said even Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) should be “freed from the clutches of governmental pressures and influence. And it is very important that all levels in bureaucracy irrespective of their grades should be brought under the purview of the proposed Jan Lokpal.”
On his December 27 protest fast in New Delhi, Hazare said the hunger strike would be undertaken only for eight days, “as per the permission granted by the Delhi police. If anything happens to me then the Congress should be held responsible for it. After that I will tour all the five states where elections are scheduled in order to explain to people the importance of Jan Lokpal.”
