Ahead of polls, team Anna step up lokpal pressure

Anna Hazare and his team renewed their lokpal campaign on Sunday by writing a series of letters to leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and BJP president Nitin Gadkari, trying to put them on the mat on the issue ahead of the assembly elections in five states. HT reports.

Anna Hazare and his team renewed their lokpal campaign on Sunday by writing a series of letters to leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and BJP president Nitin Gadkari, trying to put them on the mat on the issue ahead of the assembly elections in five states.

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In his four-page letter to Singh, the social activist asked the Prime Minster to show some courage to withdraw a “weak” lokpal bill. “You have turned 80. This country has given you everything. Now the country is asking something in return. You staked your government on the nuclear deal. Now show some courage for a strong lokpal,” Hazare said.

“If you do this, the country will always remember you."

Team Anna has linked the issue of land acquisition to its lokpal fight, saying land deals are the biggest source of corruption in the country.

In a joint letter to Rahul Gandhi, Hazare along with Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi, Shanti and Prashant Bhushan asked the Congress leader to be proactive on the issue.

“It looks like the government listens to you only. The moment you asked for a constitutional status for lokpal, they gave it," the letter stated. Gadkari was questioned as to why his party did not ask the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar, in which it is a partner, to bring a strong lokayukta law like the one passed by the BJP government in Uttarakhand.