New Delhi: NCP supremo Sharad Pawar resigned
from the GoM on Corruption to avoid controversies, but it did
not mean that the charges levelled against him by Anna Hazare
were correct, senior NCP leader Praful Patel said on Monday.
"Pawar is a leader of high standing. Also, he did not
want to enter into any controversy and that`s why he said I do
not want to be associated with any of these processes. That
does not mean that in any way he is in acknowledgement of
whatever has been spoken," Patel told reporters here.
Patel, who is the Minister of Heavy Industries and Public
Enterprises, was speaking on the sidelines of "Celebration of
the Public Sector Day" function jointly organised by the
Standing Conference of Public Enterprises and Department of
Public Enterprises.
Anti-graft crusader Hazare, who sat on hunger strike on
April 5 pressing for enactment of the Lok Pal Bill with
stringent measures against corruption, had made strong remarks
against Pawar.
He had said that "a minister like Sharad Pawar, who is
known for possessing large amounts of land in Maharashtra, is
heading a committee that will draft the Bill".
Under attack from Hazare, Pawar quit the Group of
Ministers (GoM) on Corruption on April 6.
Patel noted that "Pawar has been in public life for too
long and the people of Maharashtra and country have reposed
faith in him again and again".
On April 9, Hazare called off his 98-hour hunger strike
after government came out with a gazette notification
constituting a Joint Committee of ministers and civil society
activists to draft an effective Lok Pal Bill.
Patel said, the government has taken a positive step in
the right direction. "The question is that what is the end
result and if the end result is for good and betterment of the
polity and society, why not."
PTI
