Hegde said that he would go with the majority opinion within the Hazare team in this matter.
Justice Santosh Hegde, member of Jan Lokpal Bill drafting committee and former Lok Ayukta of Karnataka, said on Friday that he would talk with Anna Hazare about keeping the office of the prime minister and the judiciary out of the ambit of the bill, for the time being.
He added, however, that he would go with the majority opinion within the Hazare team in this matter.
Hegde had earlier said that so long as eight other conditions that the government had been unwilling to concede to protesters seeking the introduction of the Jan Lokpal Bill in Parliament were met, the two most contentious points could be kept in abeyance.
“I am ready to talk to Anna Hazare on whether the prime minister and the judiciary could be kept out of the purview of the Lokpal for the time being.
However, the government has to come out in the open and agree to the eight other conditions in the Jan Lokpal Bill that it had earlier disagreed on,” Hegde said.
Hegde said he was happy that Hazare had been allowed to continue his fast on Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan.
“The protest will go on beyond 15 days until the government passes the bill. The government has been playing hide-and-seek with the bill,” he said.
Justifying the right of citizens to seek the introduction of the Lokpal Bill in Parliament, Hegde said, “We are not asking that the Jan Lokpal Bill be passed, as it is. We only want that members of Parliament know our demands, and discuss them.”
Asked about the course of action planned if the government did not budge from its position during the fortnight-long fast at Ramlila Maidan, Hegde said, “The government has already committed many mistakes. If they arrest Anna again, we will all follow him into jails, across the country.”
Freedom fighter HS Doreswamy, a source of inspiration for the youth joining the campaign against corruption, said, “The government hid behind the police. They never imagined the magnitude of what would follow.”
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