By IANS,
New Delhi: As corruption allegations swirled around Lokpal Bill drafting panel members Shanti Bhushan and his son Prashant, social activists Thursday came out in strong support of the duo and said that none of the civil society members on the joint committee would resign.
“No one is going to resign,” Arvind Kejriwal, a member of the drafting panel, told reporters in the national capital.
“Rumours are doing the rounds that some people are quitting from the panel, and that we are looking for substitutes, (but) no one is going to resign,” he stated at a press conference.
He was referring to allegations against joint committee co-chair Shanti Bhushan, a former law minister, and his lawyer son, Prashant Bhushan, of wrongdoing in land deals, which they have vigorously denied.
“We believe the Bhushans are innocent. From our side we are in favour of a non-partisan investigation,” Kejriwal said adding that the activists have filed a petition in the Supreme Court for a fair probe.
“We have filed a petition in the Supreme Court, we want a non-partisan probe under the monitoring of the Supreme Court,” he said.
The Bhushans have also figured in a controversial audio CD which has purported conversations between Shanti Bhushan, Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh and expelled SP member Amar Singh trying to fix a dubious legal deal.
On the alleged report of a state forensic lab certifying the CD as authentic, Kejriwal said that there were “vested interests” carrying out a “malicious campaign” against the Bhushans.
He also pointed out at the possibility of involvement of some ‘government elements’ in the ‘malicious campaign’ to derail the process of formulating a strong anti-corruption bill.
“There are vested interests which may include government elements as well. The Central Forensic Science Laboratory report was expected, had it said the CD is fake we would have been surprised,” Kejriwal said adding that their information of the forensic report was based on media reports.
He also pointed out that Truth Labs in Hyderabad and an independent US audio forensic expert George Papcun had found the CD to be spliced together from earlier conversations.
Former IPS officer and a member of the civil activists group India Against Corruption, Kiran Bedi meanwhile ‘appealed’ to the Bhushans not to quit the panel.
“We are appealing to the Bhushans whatever they are suffering, bear with it as it is for national interest,” Bedi said.
Kejriwal added that withdrawal of any member at this point of time will mean derailment of the process of forming a strong anti-corruption law.
“If any of the members quit, who will benefit? The events are at a historic turning point, where the country could get a very stringent anti-graft law,” he added.
The joint panel, including five ministers, was formed following the fast unto death by crusader Anna Hazare to demand a stringent anti-corruption law.