Allies Hegde,Agnivesh come out for Anna but slam his team

Swami Agnivesh suggested that Anna Hazare was misguided by Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal. “It was never the agenda of the agitation to disregard Parliament or parliamentary processes,” he said.

Justice Hegde,who has been sitting for 7-8 hours at Bangalore’s Freedom Park every day in Hazare’s support,said,“We have to take advantage of the situation. Officially,he has not agreed to break his fast. I don’t want to say who is responsible for this. But,Anna’s team today is a mixed bag. They have their own views. I don’t think I really belong to the group.” He added that the ultimate decision to accept or reject a Bill is of Parliament.

Agnivesh,who has been part of the back channel talks between the two sides,today said he had pulled himself out of the campaign on Tuesday in order to “retain my self-respect”.

The campaign agenda,Agnivesh said,had “changed from getting a good draft of the Lokpal Bill by the government to getting the Jan Lokpal Bill passed within a fixed timeframe”.

“Behind the scenes,it was between me and Salman Khurshid who were working to reach a good resolution between the government and Team Anna. But some people in Team Anna kept saying that there was no invitation from the government to talk. So the Prime Minister,together with Pranab Mukherjee and N K Sharma (who played a key role as political adviser),we all made it sound like an invitation. Then Anna got stuck on first getting the Bill passed.”

“What has happened today is beyond my understanding,” Agnivesh said. “How is this agitation going to achieve anything new now that the government has agreed to open a debate on Jan Lokpal Bill in Parliament? And who knows if Anna is going to take more than 24 hours to end his fast now,or another five days?”

If this was indeed a victory for Team Anna,then the agitation outside the Prime Minister’s residence should be called off immediately,he said.

“The agitation could have been called off with utmost respect had the limits been respected,” Agnivesh said. “We could very well have thanked the government and the youth of the country for such overwhelming support. The government has agreed to present the draft Jan Lokpal Bill in Parliament,but Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal,who are Anna’s closest advisers and on whom he relies the most,are again acting pricey and are stuck on getting the Bill passed. What is the need for that?”

Justice Hegde,however,noted that it is the people who are supreme,not the elected representatives” “Parliament is another institution,the last one at that,to take a decision. But members of Parliament cannot ask those who make suggestions: ‘who are you unelected,unelectable tyrants”?” he said.

Agnivesh too said” “Had the government come out with a reasonable draft that incorporated the goodness of Team Anna’s draft,there would have been no need for the agitatio”.”