Lokpal Bill: Anna to meet Sonia Gandhi today

Anna Hazare is busy with his road show and spending his time meeting political parties one after another. His teams version of the Lokpal Bill was intended to check corruption among politicians and rejected as impractical by the government. Mr. Hazare is to meet the Congress President, Sonia Gandhi by 4 pm today evening, possibly the most crucial pit-stop before Sunday. That's when the government has invited opposition parties to invite discussions on the Lokpal Bill draft, one prepared by five ministers and the other by five activists led by Mr. Hazare. In the course for his campaign of the Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare wrote several letters to Sonia Gandhi. In these letters, he wrote sharply to have contacts with RSS and BJP and also wrote to Sonia Gandhi that he was hurt by the Congress leaders "smear campaign" and that it was a conspiracy to defame him. In another letter, he also urged Sonia Gandhi his desire to discuss the Lokpal draft in the National Advisory Council. In her reply to Anna, Sonia Gandhi said he should not doubt her commitment to fight corruption. She also said that she strongly believed in the institution of Lokpal and that Lokapal Bill is very much on the NAC agenda. Anna also met senior BJP leaders like L.K. Advani, Rajnath Singh, amd Murli Manohar Joshi on Friday morning. On Thursday, he met with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. After its briefing by Mr. Hazare on Friday, the BJP said that it is in favour of a strong and effective Lokpal (Ombudsman). But the party was not certain about the fact whether they will be attending the all-party meeting on Sunday. As the major Opposition party, the BJP has also yet to publicly state its stand on the headline of the Lokpal controversy. Mr. Gadkari stated that they are yet to decide on this and that the Committee is studying the proposals and will respond in Parliament. Reported by      AR