Zee Media Bureau
Ralegan Siddhi: Social activist Anna Hazare`s indefinite hunger strike pressing for passage in Parliament of Jan Lokpal Bill entered the third day on Thursday.
The 76-year-old anti-corruption crusader has said that he will not break his fast till the Jan Lokpal Bill is passed in the Parliament.
Social activist Medha Patkar today met and extended support to Anna’s protest.
Patkar flayed Congress-led UPA government for "inaction" on the issue. "What has prevented the government from passing the bill?" she asked.
"Had the government passed the bill after the earlier agitation, Congress would not have faced the ignominy in the recent Assembly polls," she said.
Anna has parked himself near the Yadavbaba temple in the village, under the banner of `Jantantra Morcha`.
His associate and former IPS officer Kiran Bedi is expected to join Anna’s fast from Saturday.
"People should dislodge the government through ballot if the bill is not passed in this session," she said, after meeting Hazare on Wednesday.
On her decision to join the fast, Bedi said, "My inner voice told me that it is not fair that Annaji is fasting alone."
"The people of this country have conveyed a very clear message in the recent assembly elections to the UPA. They have chosen to elect a corruption-free alternative like the Aam Aadmi Party because of the massive awareness created by Anna Hazare`s anti-corruption movement since 2011," Bedi said during an interaction with reporters
The Government has said it is serious in passing the ombudsman bill in the Winter session.
However, BJP leader Arun Jaitley, in his reply to Hazare`s letter seeking the party`s support for the bill, said the government is not sincere in getting the Lokpal bill passed in Parliament.
In a letter to the social activist who has started an indefinite agitation for passage of the Lokpal bill, Jaitley said the government used its majority in the Lok Sabha to approve the bill Dec 27, 2011 to create a Lokpal "not as an independent institution but as a government controlled entity".
Anna on Wednesday launched an indefinite hunger strike in his village here in Maharashtra to press for the passage of the Lokpal bill by Parliament.
