Mumbai: Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray on Thursday accused Team Anna of trying to downgrade Parliament by putting pressure on it to get the Lokpal bill passed and insisted that the institution ought to be respected.
"To what extent will you go to downgrade Parliament,
elected by the people. Are you not going to respect the
integrity of this institution?" he wrote in the editorial of
party mouthpiece 'Saamna'.
Acknowledging that the menace of corruption has seeped
into the system, Thackeray, however, said it was wrong to
"usurp the system".
He said people flock to anti-corruption rallies but
when the time comes to cast their vote, they set aside the
issue of corruption.
"This tendency of people was once again evident in the
just-concluded municipal council polls in Maharashtra. People
voted for money power. What do people in the anti-corruption
movement have to say about this," he asked apparently
referring to Congress-NCP victories in municipal council polls
in the state, including Anna Hazare's native Ahmednagar.
Thackeray said existing laws in the country, if
implemented strictly, are sufficient to nip corruption in the
bud.
"More than a Lokpal, we need a hangman to execute
Afzal Guru, convicted in Parliament attack case. Not honouring
the verdict of the court regarding hanging of Afzal Guru is
also a type of corruption," he said.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, December 15, 2011, 18:42