By IANS,
New Delhi : As Anna Hazare threatened to campaign against the Congress if the Lokpal Bill is not passed in the next session of parliament, union Law Minister Salman Khurshid Tuesday said the anti-graft bill will be brought in parliament’s winter session.
“It is their decision. Every citizen is free to vote for anybody. Congress will only do its work, perform its duties and Congress will then go back to people when the duty is performed,” Khurshid said, when asked for his reaction to Hazare’s comment to campaign against the party in the coming assembly elections.
He said he was not going to comment on anybody’s views about what should happen in the next election.
“Let the people judge. We have said that in the next session we are bringing not just this one bill (Lokpal) but many other bills as well,” he added.
In his village in Ralegan Siddhi in Maharashtra, Hazare Tuesday said he will campaign against the Congress in election-bound states if the Manmohan Singh government fails to get civil society activists’ version of the anti-corruption bill passed in parliament’s winter session.
“If the Jan Lokpal Bill is not passed in the winter session, then I will name the Congress and ask people not to vote for it in the assembly polls scheduled in five states next year,” he said in his native village, 50 km from Pune.
At the press conference, he also announced that he would begin his tour of election-bound states after Dusshera that falls Thursday.
Hazare’s 288-hour-long fast in August at Ramlila Maidan in the national capital for inclusion of a stronger anti-corruption bill had garnered support of thousands of supporters across the country.
The Jan Lokpal bill as well as other versions of the Lokpal bill are presently under consideration of a standing committee of parliament.