Bangalore: Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid on Friday said all demands of Anna Hazare on Lokpal Bill "cannot be accepted" and the activist has to decide the "limits" of his exercise.
"We have included all good points (suggested by Team Anna)
in the Lokpal Bill. But not everything they say we are in a
position to accomodate because a lot of other people think
differently," Khurshid told reporters on the sidelines of a
conference `Electoral Reforms in India - The Role of
Intellectuals` here.
"Anna Hazare has a role to perform and it is a legitimate
exercise, but he has to decide what the limits of exercise
are," Khurshid said, adding that the government would not
advise him on that front.
Asked whether he would appeal to Hazare to not go on fast
from December 27, he replied that personally he would not do
so, but would if the government takes a collective decision on
the matter. "But (for now), there is no such decision taken by
the government," he said.
Asked whether the Lokpal Bill undermined the autonomy of
the CBI, Khurshid said the government and other investigation
agencies, including the Lokpal, would not interfere in the
probes conducted by the CBI.
"CBI also must know that they would not do all the
investigation themselves, Lokpal would be free to give
investigation to any other agency if they wished so," the
minister clarified.
"I can assure you more than the CBI, the Law Ministry
understands the integrity of the investigation. We have vetted
it (Lokpal Bill) very carefully and I don`t believe we have
any problems with it," he added.
Replying to a question, Khurshid said if corruption is
encouraged by elections, as alleged by Hazare, there are ways
to contain it.
"We cannot sacrifice democracy at the altar of fight
against corruption. We will have to find a combined and
convergent method to strengthen democracy and weaken
corruption," he said.
Khurshid also appealed to the BJP to play a constructive
role in passing the Lokpal Bill in Parliament. "If there are
differences between the parties, they must be sorted out," he
said.
However, "arguing in front of the media and sharing space
at the India Against Corruption platform" was not the best
way to go about it, he said.
"They (BJP) are very experienced leaders. I must not be
telling them what should not be done," he said.
Reacting to the BJP charge that Congress "propped up" RJD
chief Lalu Prasad for derailing the focus of the Lokpal Bill
by welcoming reservation for minority quota, Khurshid said,
"It will not be fair to say we have propped up or provoked
him.
"Laluji is very strong in his opinions and sometimes they
might help the government, but sometimes they might hurt," the
minister said. "They are his opinions and I think we should
respect everybody`s opinions".
Asked about Congress leader Digvijay Singh`s stance on
attacking Team Anna, Khurshid said the party leader is "a
warrior".
"He works with a sword and we are pen-wielders," he said.
PTI
