As the civil society members led by him reached out to political parties and met BJP leader LK Advani, Anna Hazare today rejected criticism that he was seeking to create a "parallel government" through a Jan Lok Pal without accountability.
Earlier in the day, Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said in Ranchi that Hazare was seeking to create a "parallel government" through Jan Lok Pal Bill "without accountability" and flouting the basic structure of the Constitution.
Having kept political leaders at arms length during the stir over a strong anti-corruption watchdog, Hazare said the civil society would elicit views of all parties on the twin drafts prepared by them and the government representatives and discuss how to stamp out corruption.
"We will ask them [political parties] to study the two drafts and let us know if they find anything that is against Constitution in our draft. We would like to know if our draft is an attempt at forming a parallel government," the Gandhian told PTI over phone.
"We will meet them and tell them to decide after reading the draft, so that no one says that they were not shown the draft," he said.
"Civil society members, including myself, will meet chiefs and leaders of various parties and will also tour some states. I am at my village for a couple of days in connection with court work," Hazare said.
Maintaining that he was always open to discussions to remove the hurdles in the draft Bill, Hazare said," We are demanding that the same level of autonomy given to the Election Commission and Information Commissioner be given to Lok Pal, who should be given powers of inquiry. What stops you from empowering Lok Pal with powers of investigation."
