Won’t fight elections, our movement will force the govt to pass Lokpal Bill, says Anna Hazare
Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare on Saturday ruled out fighting elections but asserted that his movement will force the government to pass the Lokpal Bill.
“People are rallying behind us. The government will be forced to bring a strong Lokpal Bill,” Hazare said.
On the criticism for poor turn out at the protest site at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, Hazare said, “Crowd alone does not matter. People involved in the movement are important.”
On Saturday, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh had said Anna Hazare and his team should also contest the polls.
“Anna Hazare should contest. Ramdev, Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan, Kiran Bedi, everyone should contest election,” Singh had said.
Narayanasamy slams Team Anna
Slamming Team Anna, Union Minister V Narayanasamy on Saturday said there was lack of unity among members of anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare’s team and dismissed the charge that government was trying to break it.
“There is already no unity among the members of Anna Hazare’s team. So, there is no need for us to break their unity, as someone alleged,” the Minister of state in the PMO told reporters at the airport here.
Narayanasamy’s remarks come in the wake of charge by Hazare in the backdrop of his meeting with Law Minister Salman Khurshid that the government was conspiring to split his team.
Hitting out at team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal for his attack on members of Parliament, Narayanasamy said, “There are certain allegations against Kejriwal, a former bureaucrat.
Their attempt to control Parliament is condemnable.”
Replying to a question, he said, “Our leader Rahul Gandhi finding a place in the Cabinet is a proud moment to every Congressman. However, this matter will be decided by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.”
To a query on Chief Minister of south Indian Tamil Nadu state Jayalalithaa seeking a meeting of the Cauvery Water Authority, he said since the case was in the apex Supreme Court, the Prime Minister cannot intervene.
But, he would surely take steps to ensure Tamil Nadu gets its share of Cauvery water (from Karnataka)