New Delhi:
Social activist Anna Hazare, who successfully led a people's campaign against corruption this month, has written a strong letter to Sonia Gandhi severely criticising top Congress leaders Digvijaya Singh and Kapil Sibal and suggesting that she advice them "not to derail the process (of drafting a Jan Lok Pal Bill to address the issue of corruption)."
Rebutting the charges, the Union Telecom Miniter, who is one of the 5 members of the government on the committee to draft the Lokpal bill, said, "Now who said what to somebody and how a formal letter has been written making some allegations...they should verify the facts then be a little circumspect because all this does is vitiate the atmosphere and move away from our goal of a Lok Pal Bill. Actions of this nature which are a tissue of lies without any basis only help derail the process and we are working together that a strong bill is passed. So I would request those who are persuaded, I don't believe this has been done by the senior civil society member, those who are persuading him to do this must be a little more careful and circumspect before egging him on."
Mr Sibal also has released a formal rebuttal to Mr Hazare's charges, whose text is as follows:
After the first meeting of the Joint Drafting Committee with reference to the Lokpal Bill, and after the official briefing, Shri Kapil Sibal held no meeting with journalists to debrief them.
After the meeting, journalists followed him to his home and sought details about the meeting which he refused to divulge. The statement attributed to him that "the civil society members have succumbed to Government pressure" is patently false. No such statement was ever made by Mr. Sibal.
Journalists who came to his house sought a copy of the fresh draft of the Jan Lokpal Bill which had been handed over to the Members of the Committee and sought further details with reference thereto. Mr. Sibal refused to give a copy of the draft in question.
The fact that no debriefing took place is confirmed by Journalists who were present in his house and have on air stated that the allegation made in Shri Anna Hazare's letter has no factual basis.