Team Hazare claims support for its version of Lokpal Bill

The group’s claims of massive support for itself was based on the evaluation of 72,000 completed referendum forms,out of the 86,000 it had collected back from Chandni Chowk. It said it had distributed as many as four lakh referendum forms in that area.

On individual provisions,the group said 82 per cent of people wanted the PM to be brought within the ambit of the Lokpal,while 88 per cent were in favour of MPs’ conduct in Parliament to be investigated by the Lokpal.

The group claimed that ‘referendums’ at some other locations,Amravati,Nagpur,Wardha and Mumbai,had thrown up even bigger support for their version of the Lokpal Bill.

Armed with the results,Hazare and his colleagues launched an attack on the government and wondered whether the Prime Minister too was “telling lies” like many others in his Cabinet. Hazare said Manmohan Singh’s defence of his Cabinet’s decision to keep the Prime Minister outside the purview of the Lokpal was extremely unfortunate.

“Till now,people of this country,including me,were of the opinion that we had an honest and non-corrupt Prime Minister. But if he is defending this decision,it is unfortunate. Many people in this government are telling lies. If the Prime Minister also tells lies then what will happen,” he said.

Meanwhile,the Congress dared Hazare to contest from Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha constituency. This came in reply to the claims of Anna and his associates that the survey conducted by them found that 85 per cent of the people in this constituency of Union minister Kapil Sibal favoured Jan Lokpal Bill. “I have heard about his survey. He (Anna) could contest the next Lok Sabha election in 2014 from Chandni Chowk. Truth will clearly come out then,” Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said.