By IANS,
New Delhi/Bangalore: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday asserted that the government would pass the Lokpal bill in the ongoing winter session of parliament even as Anna Hazare renewed his threat for it to bring in the anti-graft ombudsman or quit.
Addressing a meeting in Bangalore, Hazare threatened an agitation from Dec 27 and a “jail bharo” protest Jan 1 if the bill is not passed.
Stating that the government “is committed and working day and night to give shape to the bill”, Manmohan Singh told reporters on board his special plane on way back from Moscow that he hopes to bring the bill to the cabinet Monday.
However, the prime minister, who was returning home from his three-day Russia visit, said he was “not sure what would happen once the bill reaches parliament”.
“Once it is in parliament, it is in the hands of parliament. We don’t know what could happen. But there should not be any doubt about our sincerity to get the bill passed in this session,” he said.
Raising doubts about the government’s intention to pass the bill in the winter session, Hazare Saturday wrote to the prime minister, reiterating his threats of a renewed agitation.
He accused the government of betraying people and said if the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) is not under the Lokpal, it will be a toothless body.
“The government does not want to let go of the agency,” said Hazare adding: “Whether it’s the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) or Congress, everybody in power has misused the CBI.”
He urged the people to “gherao” (surround) the houses of MPs opposing a strong Lokpal but ensure that there was no violence.
However, Hazare, in his speech in Bangalore, clarified that his aim is not to bring down the government, saying there was no guarantee that a new one would not be the same.
The activist lashed out at Home Minister P. Chidambaram, saying “if Lokpal law was there, he would have been in jail by now”.
He said Chidambaram had planned to do a Ramdev on him, a reference to the post-midnight police action to end the yoga teacher’s agitation at New Delhi’s Ramlila ground on the issue of black money abroad.