New Delhi, Jun 29 : Reaching out to political parties ahead of the all-party meeting, the Anna Hazare team today met CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat and RLD chief Ajit Singh to explain its position on the Lokpal Bill.
Hazare is likely to meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi tomorrow while his team will meet BJP top brass, as suggested by senior leader L K Advani, on Friday to drum up support for inclusion of contentious issues like bringing the Prime Minister and higher judiciary under the ambit of Lokpal.
Activists Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi called on Karat this morning at CPI(M) headquarters, while Hazare and another activist Manish Sisodia joined them in the meeting with Singh in the afternoon.
“This is part of our efforts to explain the provisions of our version of the Lokpal Bill to various political parties. We will also explain this to various religious leaders,” Hazare told reporters.
Singh, who commended Hazare for raising the awareness about rampaging corruption in the country, said “by and large” he supported the provisions of the bill proposed by the civil society.
“I did not know in detail the provisions of the Jan Lokpal Bill. The Anna Team has explained it to me in detail. By and large, I agree with the bill. Our national executive will take a final view on the issue,” he said. Bedi claimed that Karat was for an inclusive Lokpal by including the Prime Minister and the entire bureaucracy to cover the issue of corruption.
“The CPI(M) is for inclusion of the Prime Minister and bureaucracy below joint secretary level. Karat was for an inclusive Lokpal which includes merger of Anti-Corruption wing of CBI with Lokpal,” she said. PTI
