Nothing to discuss with Anna: Sonia

Responding to Hazare’s letter, the Congress president in a terse reply said on Sunday that she had already made her views clear on the issue raised by him in her reply to his previous letter.

“I received your letter dated June 9, 2011. Since I was not in Delhi I could not reply to your letter. In the meantime, you have also made it public. I will get information in this regard. As far as the questions about the issues raised in the letter are concerned, I have already made my views clear in my letter dated April 19, 2011,” Gandhi stated in her brief letter to Hazare.

In a letter to Congress president recently, anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare had expressed consternation at being called a mask of the BJP-RSS by several Congress leaders including Digvijay Singh.

Terming it as a “conspiracy” by the Congress and the UPA ministers, Anna Hazare had also alleged that it was an attempt to malign him so that he did not get the kind of support he had gotten during his five-day fast from April 5 at Jantar Mantar here. In her reply to Anna Hazare, Gandhi had made it clear that she did not support smear campaigns against anybody.

“As for statements appearing in the media, let me assure you that I do not support nor encourage the politics of smear campaigns,” she said. The UPA chairperson also said that the Lokpal Bill was very much a part of the agenda of National Advisory Council (NAC), headed by her.

“I believe there is an urgent necessity to combat graft and corruption. You should have no doubt of my commitment in the fight for probity in public life. I strongly support the institution of a Lokpal that is consistent with the practices and conventions of our parliamentary democracy,” the UPA chairperson said in her response.