Team Anna writes to PM, Rahul Gandhi on 'Strong' Lokpal'

NEW DELHI: Anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare on Sunday shot off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, asking him to replace the 'weak' Lokpal bill with a "really stringent'' one.

Similar letters, with a few variations, were sent to Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, BJP president Nitin Gadkari, his Samajwadi Party counterpart Mulayam Singh Yadav and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati.

These parties are the main contenders in the assembly polls in UP. Hazare's move is seen as a message to fend off allegations that Team Anna spearheading the campaign for a strong Lokpal bill, was playing partisan politics by its anti-Congress fulminations.

While letters to the political functionaries were signed by all the five important leaders of Team Anna - Hazare, Shanti Bhushan, his son Prashant, Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal - the one written to the PM had only Hazare's signature.

With electioneering to the five states in full swing, the letters were seen as a move undertaken by the rights activists to pitchfork the issue of corruption on top of electoral issues.