JOIN USAddressing a press meet here, Anna’s team declared that it would stay with the joint drafting committee and attend the next meeting scheduled for June 15.
The team also announced that it would hold a day-long fast at Rajghat on Wednesday to protest against the forcible eviction of yoga guru Baba Ramdev and his supporters undertaking a fast. The venue of the fast was shifted to Rajghat after the Delhi government denied them permission to hold it at Jantar Mantar. The fast may begin at 10 am.
The shift in the stand of the Anna team came a day after it boycotted a scheduled meeting of the committee after which its member and Union Minister Kapil Sibal stated that the government would go ahead with finalising the draft bill even if non-official members refuse to attend the future meetings.
A civil society press release on June 6 stated that the non-official members would stay away from the meetings of the committee alleging that the government was “unwilling to fight corruption.”
The team was seeking inclusion of the prime minister, higher judiciary and MPs’ role inside Parliament in the ambit of the proposed Lokpal Bill.
“We are not leaving the committee. We have never said so. We did not attend the meeting on Monday as we wanted to protest the police crackdown. We want a strong Lokpal Bill and want to contribute in its drafting,” Arvind Kejriwal, member of the Joint Drafting Committee on Lokpal Bill, said.
Kejriwal said the government had tried to scuttle their move to hold the fast at Jantar Mantar, the regular venue for any dharna in the capital, saying Section 144 has been in force in the area.