No point in passing this 'useless' Lokpal Bill: Team Anna

NEW DELHI: A day after Anna Hazare called off his agitations on Lokpal, Team Anna today admitted that his fast did not create the desired pressure on government and said there was no point in passing this "completely useless" bill.

The Core Committee of Team Anna will be meeting in Ralegan Siddhi on January two and three to decide on the future course of action as Hazare abruptly announced the scrapping of the jail bharo agitation and other protest plans.

"The fast was meant to create pressure. Now that on the first day itself they passed an ineffective and useless bill, there was no value of that pressure.

"So it was decided that it would not do any benefit and Anna's health was not well, so it was called off," Team Anna member Prashant Bhushan told reporters here after a meeting of some of the Core Committee members.

On the Lokpal bill, which is before the Rajya Sabha, he said, "There is no point in passing this bill. This is completely useless bill. If it is passed or not, it does not make any difference."

Kiran Bedi said government bill was "flawed to fail. It is so designed. Its proposed architecture protects the corrupt and weakens investigation processes."

Poor crowds and failing health forced Hazare to end his three-day fast ahead of schedule yesterday as he also called off all other agitation plans, including a jail bharo protest and gherao of MPs' residence.