[1]A day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asserted he would quit public life if “corruption charges against him were proved”, Team Anna sought independent probe into allegations of irregularities in allocation of coal blocks. The government, however, rejected the demand.
Anna Hazare told a TV channel: “If the Prime Minister is honest, he should be ready to face a probe”. He said the inquiry should be headed by a former judge.
Hazare and former Karnataka lokayukta Santosh Hegde, who appeared to distance themselves from allegations of corruption against PM on Tuesday, changed their stance.
While maintaining they always saw PM as a non-corrupt personality, they said an inquiry could be held if there were documents to suggest wrongdoing. RTI activist and Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal clarified it was not they but the comptroller and auditor general had made the charges in a report leaked to the media.
Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi said: “It is not possible that anybody makes allegation and you set up an inquiry.”
Maintaining that the “image of Prime Minister is beyond any doubt”, he said, “If you make allegations against somebody, there is a law and order mechanism in the country. You go to police and register an FIR instead of making allegations through media. Law will take its own course.
“Those who have files to prove allegations should take legal course rather than making allegations.” Team Anna’s demand was shot down by the government, with the Union law minister Salman Khurshid asserting “we are not going to accept the demand...I don’t think we can have for anybody, forget about ministers and certainly PM, media trials. We can’t have street trials. We are in the country where rule of law prevails,” Khurshid told reporters.
He said that the Team Anna’s strategy appeared to be to “keep accusing you of all kind of things” if Lokpal Bill is not passed by Parliament.
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