Rahul wants to climb the Everest: Bedi

Reacting to the speech made by Rahul Gandhi in Parliament Kiran Bedi, said that he “wanted to climb the Everest before climbing the hill”.

Zeenews Bureau

New Delhi: Reacting to the speech made by Rahul Gandhi in Parliament on Friday, a key member of Team Anna, Kiran Bedi, said that the general secretary of the Congress party “wanted to climb the Everest before climbing the hill”.

She said that Rahul should first try to climb the hill, emphasising that the Congress leader was forgetting that Jan Lokpal Bill was very tall.

Kiran Bedi reiterated that Anna Hazare was just asking for a commitment for the ‘aam admi’.

Addressing the crowd at Ramlila Ground, Kiran Bedi also said that all they wanted was that their voice reaches the people of the nation. “We can only give suggestions,” she said, adding, “To pass the bill is in their hands”.

Bedi reiterated that Anna will break his fast if the three conditions that he had put before the government are met.

Nonetheless, she clarified that even after Anna Hazare breaks his fast, their movement against corruption will continue.

Kiran Bedi lamented, "The country is
impatient for action and implementation and not a mere well-
intentioned long plan on issues pending since independence”.

Breaking his silence on an issue that has swept the whole nation, Rahul Gandhi today called for making Lokpal a constitutional body, just like Election Commission.

Addressing the Lok Sabha on the issue of corruption and Lokpal logjam, the Gandhi scion thanked Anna Hazare for helping to articulate public sentiment and bringing the nation’s fight against corruption on the forefront.

“The fight against corruption needs a strong political will,” Rahul underlined, adding Lokpal alone cannot be a substitute to an anti-corruption code.

“I doubt one anti-corruption law can eradicate corruption. One law is not enough,” he asserted during Zero Hour, amid noisy protests from NDA members.

Another Anna Hazare aide, activist Medha Patkar, said that instead of talking about the broad issue, the Congress general secretary should have deliberated on the
immediate issues raised by the Gandhian, whose fast for a
strong Lokpal continued for 11th day.

"Today`s urgency and concerns for lakhs and lakhs of
people have not been addressed," she said when her reaction
was sought on Rahul`s speech.

"He did not comment on the Lokpal Bill that he should
have courageously done," Patkar maintained.

On Rahul’s suggestion to make Lokpal
a constitutional body like the Election Commission, Patkar said that it was something that can be taken up in the future. “EC like body is ok but for a long term. For the moment no ground has been achieved on the Lokpal Bill,” she said, adding, “If this is to postpone the issues raised by Anna then it is not acceptable”.

Medha Patkar warned that if the Congress is not sensitive to the aspirations of the people, then in the next elections people’s power and youth power will not be not be with them.

On Gandhi`s observation that Lokpal alone cannot be a
substitute for anti-corruption code, former Law Minister
Shanti Bhushan said quoting Hazare that one Lokpal will not
eradicate corruption in the country, but it will make a
beginning.

"Bill for Lokpal does not clash with the constitutional
body which Rahul Gandhi is suggesting. It can function even as
a constitutional body," he said.

Another Team Anna member Justice Santosh Hegde said
Gandhi`s suggestion for a constitutional body looks like a
"five-year plan".

"Until the constitutional body is established there
should be a statutory body to eradicate corruption. If we go on
waiting we will have to wait for another 42 years," he said.

With PTI inputs

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