Not on same page with Anna on many issues: Hegde

He is instead waging a lonely campaign for a strong Lokpal,touring schools,colleges and other institutions.

As the tension between the government and Team Anna grows shriller over the Lokpal Bill in Parliament,Justice Santosh Hegde,former Supreme Court judge and once a core team member of the Lokpal drafting committee,chooses to remain his own man,criticising,in turns,Team Anna for posturing in public and the parliamentarians for lack of a strong desire to have a strong Lokpal.

Even as Anna Hazare switches between deciding to go on a fast and threatening a Jail Bharo movement,Justice Hegde,speaking from Bangalore,said his way is different. He is instead waging a lonely campaign for a strong Lokpal,touring schools,colleges and other institutions.

When asked why he is not sharing the camera frames with Team Anna when anti-corruption movement is beefed up for a third campaign,Justice Hegde said he attended Annas Bangalore and Chennai meets,but paused to add that he is not on the same page with them on many things.

I cannot see eye-to-eye with them. Look at the Hisar election campaign or how another member gave his views on the Kashmir referendum or even Annas statement my Bill or no Bill. I dont agree with all these things. But I dont come out because the media may say there is a split in Anna team. Best is to keep away, Justice Hegde said.

Asked if he would join Anna if there is a Jail Bharo movement,his reply was non-committal: I have not given a thought to it and all.

But he seems to be on the same page as Team Anna when it comes to passing an effective Bill this session. If the parliamentarians are on an edge about the Lokpal Bill,they have themselves to blame,he said.

See their conduct. They promised Anna they will bring a Bill in the Winter Session. They could have brought this Bill on the agenda first instead of the one on FDI in retail. Days went by without work being done on that Bill. What does it indicate? It indicates that they want to further push the Lokpal Bill to a corner and then people will question Anna saying who are you to put a limitation on the duration of Parliament, Justice Hegde said.

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The Anna issue started 10 months back,is it not? Is 10 months not enough for these people to have an open dialogue and bring out a Bill? I personally feel there is no desire to bring about a strong Lokpal because of the fact that it is a law against the lawmakers, he said.

Noting that current Lokpal Bill cleared by the Cabinet does not contain many issues practically agreed upon in dialogues and before the Standing Committee,Justice Hegde said his main point of dissent with the Bill is the non-conferment of authority to the Lokpal over the CBI.

We only wanted its CBI anti-corruption wing,with administrative control over it,handed over to the Lokpal so that work will go smoothly8230;. Now,they have created Lokpal as a constitutional body which will only conduct Preliminary Enquiry. The actual investigation will be handed over to the CBI over which the Lokpal has no control. This is a really,really camouflaged way to denigrate the institution of Lokpal, he said.