Committed to weed out graft: Government to Anna Hazare

NEW DELHI/PUNE: Ahead of Team Anna's indefinite fast, the Centre has written a letter to Anna Hazare, assuring him that it was committed to weeding out corruption and passing the Lokpal bill. Minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office, V Narayanasamy, wrote to Hazare, clarifying that it was necessary to take all opinions on board before finalising the Lokpal bill. Narayanasamy said: "...we remain committed to getting Lokpal bill passed, provided it has the approval of Parliament." Narayanasamy said that the government agreed with Team Anna's main demand for bringing the entire bureaucracy and not just joint secretary-level officers and above in the ambit of Lokpal.

Listing out other legislations introduced in Parliament, the letter said the government hopes Hazare would help in developing a national consensus over anti-corruption legislations and other steps taken by the Congress-led UPA. The letter comes at a time when Anna Hazare has decided to support yoga guru Baba Ramdev's fast against the Centre over black money.

"Ramdev is fighting to bring back black money. We are demanding a strong Lokpal to fight corruption. But the government has no intention to do so. They do not have the will power. Why are efforts not being made to bring black money stashed abroad," Anna Hazare asked.