Govt arrogant but we won’t quit Lokpal Bill panel: Team Anna

“Kapil Sibal has said government will go ahead with drafting the Bill whether we join or not. Why did that question arise? We had written to Pranab Mukherjee that we would not be attending the June 6 meeting.

“We also said Anna Hazare will not be available on June 10 and asked for the meeting to be postponed. So,it makes it clear that we are going to attend meetings. We are not going to leave the committee just like that,” he said.

He also accused Sibal of “putting words in their mouth” and said the government should tone down its arrogance.

Despite the five civil society members boycotting the meeting yesterday,the ministers went ahead and finalised some provisions of the proposed Lokpal Bill.

Later,Sibal took objection to the boycott by civil society members and said the committee would do its work whether others join it or not.

Reacting to Congress spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi’s comments that Hazare was a mask of the BJP,another activist Prashant Bhushan said such remarks deserve contempt.

The activists also defended their insistence on live telecast of joint committee proceedings saying it will give a better picture of the stand taken by both sides.

On the question of live telecast,Bhushan said the government should not be against it if it has nothing to hide.

On the issue of bringing MPs under the ambit of the Lokpal Bill,Kejriwal said not a single MP accused in the cash-for-vote scam was punished.

“For the last three years,not a single MP has been punished. Has any investigation been done? Has something happened? Our MPs vote after taking money and go unpunished. Tomorrow they will take money from someone outside the country and vote,will that not be detrimental?” Kejriwal said.