BeyondHeadlines Staff reporter
New Delhi: Social activist Anna Hazare today met United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and threatened her that he would once again sit on hunger strike if the correct Lokpal Bill was not floored in Parliament.
The last communication between Hazare, who is a member of the civil society in the Lokpal Bill Drafting Committee, and Sonia Gandhi may have been bitter, with Sonia giving him a curt reply to his second letter and Hazare calling her a remote control, but a day ahead of the all-party meeting, both were under pressure to meet.
Although after the meeting both sides claimed that talks were cordial, it was apparent that the Congress party did not change its stand that there was no question of the prime minister being brought under the ambit of the Lokpal Bill.
“The Congress party will support whatever decision is taken by the government,” senior Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi said.
But the Congress party was glad to hear Anna, who said that the Parliamentary democracy would have to be followed. Anna’s soft tone on this came in the backdrop of the reluctance by most political parties to accept the Jan Lokpal Bill although he insisted that if the correct bill did not go to Parliament, he would go on fast.
Even as Anna finished meeting Sonia, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) too met to chalk out its strategy. Although the NDA will attend tomorrow’s meeting, it has yet to reveal its stand on whether or not the prime minister should be brought under the Lokpal’s purview.
“We will attend the all-party meeting on Sunday and we will convince our partner Shiv Sena to attend the meeting as well,” BJP leader LK Advani said.
