Team Anna plays down growing rift with Roy

Amid growing differences between the teams of social activists Anna Hazare and Aruna Roy, Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan on Monday played down the rift, saying a difference of opinion did not mean termination of relationship. HT reports. Hazare says he is not God

Amid growing differences between the teams of social activists Anna Hazare and Aruna Roy, Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan on Monday played down the rift, saying a difference of opinion did not mean termination of relationship.

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Bhushan, who along with Arvind Kejriwal, is a member of both, Hazare's core team and also Aruna Roy's National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI), said the differences were mainly on the issue of the Lokpal bill.

Asked why he and Kejriwal were continuing as members of the NCPRI, given their differences, Bhushan replied:"We have differences with them on certain aspects of the Lokpal bill, but that does not mean we stop talking. Difference of opinion does not mean that you end your association," he said.

"The NCPRI has made some suggestions on the Lokpal bill, but they have given no solutions. For example, they say judiciary should be out of its ambit, but they have not suggested a solution," Bhushan said.

His father and former law minister, Shanti Bhushan, however, hinted that their team will soon determine its relationship with other civil society groups on the basis stands they take on the Jan Lokpal bill.

"We will like to know the basis for opposing our version of the Lokpal bill and why misconceptions were being spread about it?," the veteran lawyer remarked.

The latest dip in the relations between Hazare and Roy group follows the sharp exchange of words between her and Kejriwal.

Roy had no Sunday rebutted Kejriwal's allegation that she and her colleagues refused to meet him for a discussion on the Lokpal bill.

"I have not sent, and could not have sent, nor would I send anyone back from the gate of anyone's house," Roy had said in a statement on Sunday.

Kejriwal had said on Saturday that Roy sent him back from the gate of veteran journalist Kuldip Nayyar's house, saying she didn't want to engage in a dialogue with him.

On Monday, however, Kejriwal, chose not react to reporters queries and allowed Bhushan to respond on the issue.