Anna reaches Delhi; may end vow of silence

New Delhi: Anna Hazare on Thursday night reached Delhi to attend a meeting of the Standing Committee on the issue of the Lokpal Bill on Friday, ahead of which he is expected to end his 'maun vrat' (vow of silence) observed for the past 19 days.

Hazare will go to Rajghat on Friday morning and after paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi, he is expected to break his 'maun vrat', Team Anna sources said.

Hazare will go to Rajghat on Friday morning and after paying tributes to
 Mahatma, he is expected to break his silence.

Hazare, who had threatened to launch another hungerstrike if a strong Lokpal Bill is not passed in Parliament's Winter Session, left his village Ralegan Siddhi this afternoon and reached Delhi at 8:40 pm. He will stay at Maharashtra Sadan.

The 74-year-old activist, who is on 'maun vrat' since October 16, will attend the meeting of the Standing Committee on Lokpal Bill along with other team members on Friday, the third such meeting.

The Team had met the Committee this evening as also after Hazare undertook a 13-day fast in August demanding that the Jan Lokpal Bill be passed in the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

Soon after the Lokpal Bill was referred to the Committee, Hazare and his associates had deposed before the panel saying it should ask the Government to withdraw the Lokpal Bill in its present form as it would "encourage corruption".

Rajasthan Monsoon Session Starts With Anna Issue

Anna Hazare's agitation for the passage of the Jan Lokpal bill in Parliament today rocked the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly on the first day of the Monsoon Session with Opposition BJP raising the demand for a debate on the issue and staging a walk-out.

As soon as the House assembled, Leader of the Opposition Vasundhara Raje said there was an urgent need to discuss the issue of Hazare's agitation as countrywide people were on the roads expressing their desire to eradicate corruption.

She said Hazare's health was deteriorating because of his fast and the situation may worsen in the country as well as in the state. Hence, it was important to urgently discuss the issue of corruption and the ongoing agitation against it.

However, Speaker Deependra Singh Shekhawat asked her to raise this demand in the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) scheduled after adjournment and took up the listed business.

However, BJP MLAs Rajendra Singh Rathore, Kalicharan Saraf, Digambar Singh and others continued to raise the issue of Hazare after which the Opposition staged a walk-out.

Two BJP MLAs Devi Singh Bhati and Mohan Lal Gupta were seen wearing Gandhian caps with 'I am Anna' written on them.

The House was later adjourned till 11 am on Friday after paying tributes to former Tamil Nadu Governor P C Alexander, former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu who was killed in a helicopter crash, former Chief Minister of Haryana Bhajan Lal, former Union Minister Daulat Ram Saran and a few former MLAs of the state who had lost their lives.

Former Jaipur royal Bhawani Singh and victims of the Mumbai bomb blast, Kalka Express accident and Mathura-Chhapra train-bus collision were also offered tributes by the members who observed two minute silence in the House.