Lokpal: Hazare accuses govt of betrayal, may again start stir

Activist Anna Hazare has accused the government of betrayal and dismissed the proposed Lokpal legislation as "ineffective".

Hazare has demanded that the CBI and CVC be bodies on par with the Election Commission. He said he may again go back to the Ramlila Maidan to press for an effective Lokpal.

"The government has been betraying us and the people of the country repeatedly... If required, I will go back to the Ramlila Maidan to demand a strong and effective Lokpal Bill," Hazare told the media today.

Rejecting the Lokpal Bill cleared by the Cabinet yesterday, Hazare said the fight against corruption would not be effective if the government did not relinquish its control over CBI and CVC.

"Due to the government's control over CBI and CVC, corruption has increased. Both these bodies must be made autonomous like the Election Commission," he said.

Hazare also criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accusing him of failing to keep his promise on specific demands based on which he had ended his 12-day-long fast in August 2011.

The Union Cabinet yesterday amended the controversial Lokpal Bill, delinking it from the setting up of Lokayuktas in the states and transferring powers of sanction of prosecution against public servant to the ombudsman.

The Cabinet accepted 14 of the 16 recommendations made by the Rajya Sabha Select Committee, which was set up in May last year amid sharp differences among political parties because of which the legislation was stuck in the Upper House since December 2011.

The approval of the official amendments paves the way for consideration of the bill afresh by the Rajya Sabha during the Budget Session expected to begin towards the end of February. Hazare said he will travel across the country to make people aware about the "government's betrayal" and to motivate them to elect those with clean image in the 2014 general elections.

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