Committed to strong Lokpal, but not at pistol-point: Minister

By IANS,

New Delhi: The United Progressive Alliance government wants a strong and effective Lokpal bill to combat graft in high places, but it cannot be done by “putting a pistol on someone’s neck”, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said here Wednesday.


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“You cannot get something done by putting a pistol on someone’s neck,” Bansal told reporters here.

His comments came a day after social crusader Anna Hazare said he would resume his movement for the Jan Lokpal bill with the Oct 13 by-election in Hisar in Haryana where he would campaign against the Congress.

Bansal said a parliamentary standing committee was looking into the bill and was collecting views of its members.

“It will be a sincere endeavour to see that the bill is taken up during the next winter session. But it depends upon the work the committee is able to do.

“The committee has members from all the parties and they are getting inputs from different people who want to come before it,” Bansal added.

In his village in Ralegan Siddhi in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district, Hazare threatened that his campaign for a strong anti-graft Jan Lokpal (ombudsman) bill would continue after Dussehra. And if the Congress blocked the law, he would ask people not to vote for it.

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