A 72-year-old Gandhian got the government to agree to his demands for a more stringent Lokpal Bill. Govt agrees for a joint committee on Lokpal Bill. Five members from civil society are: Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, Santosh Hegde, Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bushan.
Noted lawyer Shanti Bhushan talks with social activist Anna Hazare during the 4th day of the latters indefinite fast for Jan Lokpal Bill in New Delhi on Friday. PTI
The government on Friday night agreed to issue a formal order to set up a joint committee for drafting an effective Lokpal Bill and the Gandhian will end his indefinite fast on Saturday morning at 10 am.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will be the chairman of the committee that will also include Law Minister Veerappa Moily, Telecom Minister Sibal, Home Minister P Chidambaram and Water Resources Minister Salman Khurshid as members.
Besides Hazare, those representing the civil society in the joint committee will be eminent lawyers Shanti Bhushan, Prasant Bhushan, retired Supreme Court Judge Santosh Hege and RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal. Shanti Bhushan will be the co-Chairman.
More than 83 hours after he launched his fast in the heart of the capital, Anna Hazare told reporters and frenzied supporters: “From the way the government has accepted (our demands), the people of India have won.” The former soldier-turned-activist said he would end his fast at 10 a.m. Saturday.
“This is an happy day for us. It is a victory of the democracy,” Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal said Friday night of the accord that had been reached on forming a joint committee of ministers and civil society leaders to draft an anti-graft legislation that had prompted social reformer Anna Hazare to announce that he would end Saturday morning his fast-unto-death undertaken for the measure.
“I thank the generosity of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA (United Progressive Alliance) chairperson Sonia Gandhi. I thank Anna Hazare too,” Sibal, who had represented the govenrment in the talks with civil society leaders to persuade Hazare to end the fast he had begun on Tuesday.
-Agencies