Anna Hazare meets Advani, to see Sonia tomorrow

In a bid to garner more support for the lokpal bill, social activist Anna Hazare today met senior BJP leader LK Advani and will meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi tomorrow at her 10 Janpath residence.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi will on Saturday meet Gandhian Anna Hazare and other representatives of civil society to discuss the lokpal bill.

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"The meeting between team Anna and Sonia Gandhi is confirmed for tomorrow (July 2)," Aswathi Muralidharan, a member of the NGO Parivartan which is canvassing support for the lokpal bill, told IANS.

The meeting had earlier been scheduled for June 30.

Team Anna has been meeting political party leaders to build a consensus on the bill drafted by the civil society.

Hazare, who along with other members of the civil society also met 11 leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in New Delhi on Friday, said the party has assured them all support for a strong lokpal bill.

"We met senior BJP leaders like LK Advani, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and discussed on how to make the lokpal bill stronger," Anna Hazare told reporters after the meeting.

"It was felt that a strong lokpal bill needs more discussion. The talks were good and I am thankful to them," he added.

Team Anna has been meeting leaders of various political parties to build a consensus on the bill drafted by the civil society.

BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said: "Eleven leaders of the BJP met the civil society representatives for a good one-and-a-half hours today. We listened to them and saw their presentation. We also sought some clarifications. We assured them of a strong lokpal bill".

"Our party will have a meeting and then discuss about this," he added.