Govt should withdraw Lokpal Bill: Team Hazare tells Par panel

New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) Anna Hazare and his team
Wednesday appeared before a Parliamentary committee and
demanded that the Lokpal Bill in its present form be withdrawn
so that the government can come with a fresh measure.
Hazare told reporters after the meeting that though the
decision of the Parliamentary Committee to study the Jan
Lokpal bill(citizens anti-corruption ombudsman bill) along
with the government legislation was a "good thing", he would
continue with his August 16 indefinite fast if the panel did
not take a decision by that date.
"My fast is against the government and not Parliament,"
he said.
However, the Gandhian did not say whether he and his team
told the committee during the two-and-a-half hour meeting that
the government should include prime minister, high judiciary
and conduct of Members of Parliament(MPs) inside Parliament
within the ambit of the bill.
A member of Hazare's core team Swami Agnivesh created a
flutter by saying they were "very very flexible" on issues
like bringing Prime Minister or higher judiciary under the
ambit of the ombudsman, but stuck to the point of including
lower bureaucracy in it.
Senior lawyer Shanti Bhushan, his son Prashant, RTI
activist Arvind Kejriwal and former IPS officer Kiran Bedi
accompanied Hazare to the Committee on Personnel and Law
Justice to put forth their views on the government Lokpal
Bill.
The Lokpal Bill, introduced in Lok Sabha on August 4,
has been referred to the Standing Committee on August 8 by
Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari who has given it three
months to give recommendations.
Prashant Bhushan and Kejriwal said they asked the
Committee to recommend to the government to withdraw the
Lokpal Bill.
"The bill is designed to deter complainants from making
complaints against corruption. It is designed to harass NGOs
which are raising voice against corruption in government,"
Bhushan said.