Sharad Pawar quits GoM; Anna Hazare not happy,continues fast

New Delhi, Apr 7: It seems that the veteran social activist Anna Hazare have partially won in his battle against the ruling government as the agriculture minister and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar resigned from the Group of Ministers (GoM) fighting corruption. Though, Hazare claimed that Pawar's resignation from GoM is not enough as he wanted Pawar to quit from his (Pawar's) ministry.

The 72-year-old Hazare, continuing his fast-unto-death, chided, "so what if he has quit? One Pawar goes, another will come...our campaign will continue."

Pawar on Wednesday, Apr 6 expressed his desire to step down from the GoM led by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. Citing the irresistible protest from Hazare and his supporters, the agriculture minister was forced to step down from the GoM.

Earlier, Pawar stated, "I will be happy if you relieve me from all GoMs, including that GoM (on corruption)." Then in a letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Pawar informed that he does not want to be "associated" with it (GoM on corruption) any more.

Meanwhile, Hazare has written an open letter to the PM and stated, "You say that your Group of Ministers are drafting the anti corruption law. Many of the members of this Group of Ministers have such a shady past that if effective anti-corruption systems had been in place, some of them would have been behind bars."

With innumerable scandals (2G spectrum scam, CWG, Adarsh housing scam and so on) the country is facing now, Hazare took things in his hand on the corrupt "babus" by fasting unto death against corruption.

Hazare's decision for holding the indefinite fast came over his demand to introduce a new Lokpal bill in the Parliament to tackle the numerous corruptions that has ruined the roots of Indian political scenario. (What is Lokpal Bill?)

Starting his protest on Tuesday, Apr 5, Hazare claimed, "Like Supreme Court (SC) and Election Commission, an independent body called Jan Lokpal should be set up at the Centre and a Jan Lokayukta should be set up in each state to receive complaints of corruption, investigate them within six months and prosecute the guilty."

OneIndia News