Breaking his ‘vow of silence’ for the past 19 days, Anna Hazare today declared that he would campaign against the Congress in five states where Assembly elections are due next year, if the UPA government failed to get the Jan Lokpal Bill passed in the winter session of Parliament.
Expressing dissatisfaction with the way the government was dealing with the Bill, he said it was tearing the Bill to pieces by having a separate structure for grievance redressal, for citizens charter and so on.
“I am fine with these but at least the Bill should be strong,” he said today.
He said he did not find merit in any political party, either the BJP or the Congress. But he would campaign against the latter if it diluted the Lok Pal Bill and did not pass it in the promised time.
He said this doesn’t necessarily mean he would “campaign for the BJP” as there was no difference between the two. He asked the Centre to follow the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Bill. Adding: “The government there has shown much courage, to make such a strong Bill that can question even the chief minister. The Centre should learn from Uttarakhand Chief Minister B C Khanduri. Khanduri was a former soldier like me. And he has proved himself to be a good one by showing the courage to have such a strong Lokayukta Bill.”
Asked why he kept threatening the government again and again, he said it tends to forget, and so it was his duty to keep on reminding the government of its responsibilities.