Hazare rules out change in nominees in Lokpal panel

New Delhi, Apr 10 (PTI) Indian Anti-corruption crusader
Anna Hazare on Sunday 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 was at 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.

"... To form the draft, it is important to have
understanding of the law and experts are needed for it,"
Hazare said.
Shanti Bhushan, a veteran lawyer, said that his son
Prashant had himself raised the issue of the two being part of
the same committee but maintained it was Hazare who felt that
they as experts needed to be part of it.
Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi said the issue was not
about individuals but that of a strong legislation being
drafted by it.
Kejriwal said last night he had talked to Ramdev and the
misunderstanding has been cleared.
Bedi, who has been urging the media to give as much
coverage to Hazare's campaign as they did during the Cricket
World Cup, said she did not want to be part of the panel at
all and wanted the experts to do their job.
"This is an A-plus team. Only those people can be part of
this committee who know the government's functioning and can
help in making a law that will look into all aspects of
fighting large-scale corruption", Bedi said.
Hazare said that even he had initially refused to be part
of the drafting panel as it was important to have an effective
bill. "Who should be part of it and who should stay out are
not important matters. This will be of importance at a later
stage", he explained.
Hazare disagreed with Baba Ramdev, saying, "You can
level any allegation against me. I am a person who follows
Gandhian principles. Nothing wrong in having two members of
the same family in the panel. We need experience. We need
expertise".
Kejriwal said he saw no reason behind the discussion on
who all from the civil society should be part of the joint
committee.
"I don't see any reason behind this discussion. Those
who were part of the team that prepared the first draft of the
Jan Lok Pal Bill -- Justice Santosh Hegde, Shanti and Prashant
Bhushan and I -- are part of this committee", Kejriwal said.