By IANS,
New Delhi : Amid complaints of a smear campaign against civil society representatives on the joint committee to draft the Lokpal bill, the government Friday said it was looking forward to work with them on the panel and conveyed its commitment to a strong legislation to fight corruption.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here that the government was looking forward to working with Anna Hajare and his colleagues on the committee to draft a strong and sound Lokpal bill in order to fight corruption.
Mukherjee’s remarks came in the wake of controversy over statements by Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh against Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde, who is a member of the joint drafting committee.
Hegde took exception to his remarks and Singh clarified that he never meant any disrespect to the Lokayukta.
Earlier, social activist Anna Hazare had written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi against a smear campaign against the civil society members of the panel and had mentioned about a controversial CD targeting former law minister Shanti Bhushan and his son Prashant Bhushan, who are both members of the panel.
Gandhi had replied to him that she does not support the politics of smear campaigns.