Team Anna on Wednesday voiced hope that the government will deliver on Sonia Gandhi’s promise of bringing a strong Lokpal bill in Winter Session of Parliament or else, the activists warned, they will hit the streets again.
“We welcome Ms. Gandhi’s statement. We hope the Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) will keep his assurance and a strong Lokpal Bill will be passed as per ‘Sense of House’,” key team member Arvind Kejriwal responded in a tweet.
In a statement, he hoped that the government would honour her commitment of getting a strong Lokpal during Winter Session.
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“Mere speeches would not be enough from the government’s side,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
Another member Sanjay Singh, who had organised a “referendum” in Ms. Gandhi’s constituency, took exception to Ms. Gandhi’s comments that corruption cannot be fought through speeches alone.
“It is the leaders who did the talking all these days but they did not deliver and we had to hit the streets,” Mr. Singh said.
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Mr. Singh, also a Core Committee member of Team Anna, said giving lectures was not their domain but of political leaders who had the opportunity to bring Lokpal bill in the past eight years.
“This law is now being made through a struggle. We trusted our leaders but in the past 42 years, they did not pass a law. Sonia Gandhi is saying that speeches alone would not do any good. It is the leaders who did the talking all these days but they did not deliver we had to hit the streets.
“They did not deliver and if they decide not to go ahead this time, we will go back to streets,” he told PTI .
On Ms. Gandhi’s reference why there is so much noise on the issue now when Dr. Singh had given an assurance, Mr. Singh alleged that the intentions of the government were not right. “If their intentions were good, they would not have brought a separate public grievance redressal bill,” he said.