New Delhi/Bangalore: Unfazed by
controversies surrounding the Bhushans, civil society
activists Thursday rejected demands for their resignation from
the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill but one of its
members Justice Santosh Hegde said he is thinking of resigning
from it.
The demand for the resignation of lawyer Shanti Bhushan
and his son Prashant grew today following a CFSL report that a
CD allegedly involving the senior Bhushan was not tampered
with.
While the Bhushans kept mum, activists Arvind Kejriwal
and Kiran Bedi ruled out their resignation because of the
"malicious campaign" against them.
They told a press conference in Delhi that the civil
society members were together and the "entire malicious"
campaign launched by some "corrupt elements in and out of
government" was aimed at derailing the drafting of a strong
Lokpal Bill.
"There is no question of anybody resigning from the
joint committee. No one will resign. We are at a historic
juncture where we are going to have a strong anti-corruption
law. We are not the ones who run away from battle zones."
However, upset over the "vilification campaign",
Justice Hegde, who is also Lokayukta in Karnataka, said in
Bangalore that he was thinking of resigning but he would
consult his colleagues in the anti-corruption movement in
Delhi on Saturday and take a decision.
He was angry that Congress General Secretary Digvijay
Singh had attacked him yesterday that he was protecting
Karnataka Chief Minister from corruption charges.
"This is absolutely false. This is contrary to
facts. I am not not a politician. I cannot fight this type
of battle," he said adding the former Madhya Pradesh Chief
Minister's remarks were "hurting" at a time when his party
leader Sonia Gandhi had made it clear she does not not support
any smear campaign.
"No one has fought the Karnataka Chief Minister as I
had done, not even the Congress in the state. People here
know it," he said.
Hegde said he would discuss with his colleagues in the
civil society movement including Anna Hazare and take a
decision whether to continue in the joint drafting committee.
Acting on a complaint, the Delhi police had referred a
to the Central Forensic Laboratory (CFSL) a CD purported to
have conversations between Shanti Bhushan, Mulayam Singh Yadav
and Amar Singh in which a suggestion is being made about
fixing a judge.
The CFSL has found that the CD was not not doctored as
"the recorded conversation is in continuity and no abrupt
change in speech signal detected".
This contradicted a report obtained by Prashant
Bhushan from a private lab in Hyderabad the CD was tampered
with.
PTI
First Published: Friday, April 22, 2011, 00:12