Bring Lokpal Bill or quit, Anna tells government

Bangalore: Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare on Tuesday addressed a rally in Bangalore as part of his campaign for Jan Lokpal Bill.

He said that his team was asking the government to either bring the Lokpal Bill or go out, alleging that the lives of the poor was miserable due to corruption in the government.

"This government is a liar and their draft on Lokpal is a weak one," he said, adding that his agitation had removed six corrupt minister and would remove many more.

"We have to fight to remove the enemy within the country," said Anna.

The anti-corruption crusader further said that "Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is good person, he is not corrupt, but he is controlled by remote control."

Anna said the agitation would continue till a strong Lokpal was in place.

"I will start my fast in New Delhi on December 27 and all of you will hold demonstrations carrying the national flag and raising slogans of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai', 'Vande Mataram' and 'Inquilab Zindabad'," he told a large public meeting.

"Three days later, you will fill the jails if the bill is not passed by then," the social activist told the boisterous crowd that enthusiastically responded to almost every statement of his with loud cheers and whistles.

He urged the people to "gherao" the houses of MPs opposing a strong Lokpal but ensure that there was no violence.

Calling the central government a 'jhooti sarkar" (government that lies), hazare said, "They are not cheating me but the people of this country".

He lashed out at Home Minister P. Chidambaram, saying "if Lokpal law was there, he would have been in jail by now".

Hazare said Chidambaram had planned to do a Ramdev on him, a reference to the post-midnight police action to end the yoga teacher's agitation at New Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on the issue of black money abroad.

Earlier, addressing the gathering, former Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde said that the Lokayukta campaign by Team Anna was an answer to all politicians who had criticised his work.

Pointing that the Karnataka government had been saying that they could not find a single honest person to appoint as the Lokayukta in the last four months, Hegde said that it was an insult to Kannadigas.

"The way things are planning out now the laws that can't be made in Parliament may have to be made on streets," said Hegde.

(With Additional Inputs from IANS)