Ensuring consensus on Lokpal is government’s job: Team Anna

The onus of not arriving at any consensus at the all-party meeting was on the government, Team Anna said on Sunday.

This had to happen, the activists said, because the government went without a cabinet-approved bill. They made it clear that whether Anna would sit on indefinite fast or not from August 16 would depend on the “kind of Lokpal bill that government would present in parliament”.

“We are watching everything. We maintain our stand that Anna would sit on his fast from August 16 if the government doesn’t come out with a strong Lokpal bill. Our eyes are firmly set on the Lokpal bill that the cabinet would approve. We would wait for that,” civil society activist Manish Sisodia, who is an integral part of team Anna, told DNA.

Another activist said the government was using delaying tactics and this would further push back the bill, for which country has already waited for 42 years.

However, activist Kiran Bedi said Sunday’s meeting has atleast resulted in political parties taking up ownership of the Lokpal Bill.

“The process has climbed up a ladder and we as a team see the Lokpal bill going in the right direction in the sense that political parties are now taking ownership of the Lokpal bill. That was what we wanted,” she said.