Declare assets,rally donors: Kejriwal tells parties

Anna Hazare,who was supposed to be present at the meeting but had to cancel the programme as he is unwell,addressed the meeting by mobile phone from his hospital bed in Pune. “If the government creates hurdles in passage of the Lokpal Bill,then I will again sit on dharna at Jantar Mantar. If the situation demands,I am prepared to go to jail. I have gone to jail earlier also and it added to my prestige and reputation…” said Hazare.

Kejriwal said they were watching to see the party most vociferously opposed to the Bill. “We will urge the people to never vote for that party which is opposed to the historic move initiated by Anna Hazare.”

Kejriwal accused a section of the media of running a misinformation campaign about Hazare and the Bill,and said members of the civil society in the drafting committee were being subjected to mudslinging and vilification in order to divide them. But these efforts have failed,he said.

“This is the second battle for independence. The country is still waiting for the perfect azadi. In 1947,the brown sahibs replaced the whites,” he added,urging the people to fight and exhorting the youth to draw inspiration from martyrs like Bhagat Singh,Sukhdeo and Rajguru.

In an obvious reference to Amar Singh,Swami Agnivesh said: “I do not know whether he underwent a surgical operation for the kidney or the brain,but the person who has been in the business of running the dirty tricks department,manufacturing and planting CDs is levelling baseless allegations against members of the civil society.”

Former DGP of Uttar Pradesh Prakash Singh said that after serving in Jammu and Kashmir,Punjab and Assam,he was of the firm view that even the root cause of political unrest and insurgency was rampant corruption.

India Against Corruption’s next meeting will be on April 30 at Sultanpur,and the last on May 1 at Lucknow.

SC refuses to take up pleas

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to go into a batch of PILs challenging the constitutional validity of the notification on composition of Lokpal Bill drafting committee.

Calling such petitions concerning Lokpal issue as “premature” right now,a Bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia posted the matter for hearing in July.

“The petitions are premature and cannot be entertained now as the Lokpal Bill is yet to be passed,” the Bench said.