The anti-corruption crusader firmly ruled out any changes in civil society's nominees in Lokpal Bill drafting committee.
Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare today firmly ruled out any changes in civil society's nominees in Lokpal Bill drafting committee, asserting there was no differences after Baba Ramdev's criticism on inclusion of father-son duo Shanti and Prashant Bhushan.
Declaring they were focussed on having a "good and effective" law against graft, the 73-year-old social activist also said the process of formulating the act will be videographed and the procedures made public, a day after he ended his fast demanding a stronger anti-corruption Lokpal Bill.
"The committee has been set up now. Now we have to see how to take it forward. The preparations of the draft will begin from April 16. The entire process should be videographed so that people can see who is saying what. What government is saying, what we are saying. There will be nothing in hiding."
The Gandhian went on a damage control mode to make it clear there will be no resignation or fresh appointments in the committee and spoke to Ramdev after the Yoga guru had objected to the inclusion of the Bhushans, both lawyers, in the panel.
"I have talked to Ramdev. We have no personal differences on this issue. This issue will not be there for long. The Committee will be there for two months. It is not a permanent committee of five to 10 years," he told reporters.
"He had raised with me the issue of why Bedi was not a member of the panel. I explained to him that Bedi herself has told us that she did not want to be part of the panel. I told him that this committee is not a permanent one and the Bhushans have legal expertise," Hazare said in Haridwar.
Ramdev, who had joined Hazare in the agitation, alleged inclusion of the Bhushans in the committe showed nepotism. "Why is there nepotism in the committee? Why both father and son are accommodated in the committee?" Ramdev had asked.
Ramdev wasat pains later to emphasise that the representatives of the civil society were united and there was no differences.
He claimed there was some misunderstanding and that the issue has been sorted out and claimed that the question of nepotism was raised by the media.
"The question of nepotism was raised by the media and not me. When I was asked about it, I said that though we have played a role in the Jan Lokpal Bill movement, we had no say in the formation of the committee," Ramdev said.
"I do not have a problem with inclusion of Shanti and Prashant Bhushan in the panel. We trust Annaji's (Anna Hazare's) judgement on the matter. I only said volunteers wanted Kiran Bedi on the panel," he said backtracking on his earlier remarks. Ramdev had joined the agitation which led to the government agreeing to form a 10-member joint committee including civil society representatives to draft Lokpal Bill.
RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal appealed to the media not to see "conspiracy" in everything.
Hazare and Kejriwal strongly defended the inclusion of the Bhushan duo saying their services were required since they were legal experts and have a grip of the nitty gritty relating to drafting laws.
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