Anna waits to see Sonia, meets Nitish

Congress president Sonia Gandhi kept anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare waiting for an appointment on Thursday, even as he continued meetings leaders of other political parties, including Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi kept anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare waiting for an appointment on Thursday, even as he continued meetings leaders of other political parties, including Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.

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Hazare and his colleagues, who are meeting the leaders of all major parties, before the all-party meet convened by the government on Sunday, put up a brave face, saying they were in touch with the Congress president’s office.

Though Gandhi has not given him an appointment yet, Congress leaders believe Hazare would finally be granted an audience — the date and time of which remains uncertain.

On Wednesday Hazare had said, “We will meet Sonia (on Thursday) and tell her if the PM is willing to be under Lokpal, then what is the problem.”

The anti-corruption crusader appears to be in a tricky situation, since during his Jantar Mantar fast in April, he had announced no politician would be allowed on the stage. From that populist statement, Hazare ended up going to the offices of all major political parties to garner support for the bill.

Hazare and team also met Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday. Kumar criticised the Centre for spreading confusion on the Lokpal bill.

“Let the government tell us what are its view. Why two drafts are being sent to states for views. First, the government should make its stand clear on what it wants...,” Kumar said after meeting Hazare’s team.