Congress turns down Anna’s invite for public debate

The Congress party has turned down the invitation from Anna Hazare to participate in a public debate on the Jan Lokpal issue.

“We are not in a voluntary disclosure scheme,” quipped Congress spokesperson Renuka Chaudhary while responding to an open invitation to participate in a public debate at Jantar Mantar where Hazare will observe a day-long fast on December 11th.

Chaudhary also slammed Hazare and his supporters for inviting political parties to their platform.

“This only shows that contrary to their claims that it is an apolitical movement, their entire campaign is political in nature, as we have been maintaining all along,” she said.

With the report of the Standing Committee on Lokpal bill expected to be tabled in the parliament during this week, the Congress virtually treats this issue as closed for public debate, and is thus not interested in joining the issue with Hazare and his supporters.

Hazare and his supprters are not satisfied with the recommendations of the standing committee, and still have a lot of issues for debate.

Some of their demands like including the prime minister in the ambit of the Lokpal have been supported by the BJP’s representatives on the standing committee through a dissent note.