Team Anna to appear again before Parliament panel on Lokpal

NEW DELHI: Against the backdrop of Anna Hazare threatening to resume his fast on the last day of Parliament's Winter Session if a strong Jan Lokpal Bill is not passed by then, Team Anna would once again appear before a Parliamentary panel scrutinising the measure this week.

Representatives of Team Anna would appear before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel and Law and Justice on November 3 and 4 to present their view on the anti-corruption measure.

This will be Team Anna's second appearance before the Committee and first after the Gandhian undertook a 13-day fast demanding passage of the Lokpal Bill in the recently-concluded Monsoon session of Parliament.

Soon after the Lokpal Bill was referred to the Committee, activist Anna Hazare and his associates had deposed before the Committee where they said the panel should ask the government to withdraw the Lokpal Bill as it would "encourage corruption".

The Jan Lokpal Bill drafted by team Anna was referred to the Committee by DoPT, while the Government's Lokpal Bill introduced in Lok Sabha in August was referred to the panel on August 8.

"I will begin my hunger strike agitation on the last day of the Session, if the Jan Lokpal Bill is not passed in the House and the team will tour various states to educate people about the issue," Hazare said in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today.