Amid roiling controversy over Lokpal Bill drafting committee members, Union minister Salman Khurshid on Saturday ruled out any changes in the panel and said the government is looking forward to receiving inputs from Justice Santosh Hegde on the bill. "I value his (Hegde) contributions enormously and hold high respect for him. I hope he will be able to be with us. We want his contributions. We (government) are looking forward to...

They played to the gallery, grabbing every opportunity to put Hazare's agitation centre stage. THE movement against corruption led by Anna Hazare had the media completely on its side. The agitation, which began with Hazare announcing that he would begin an indefinite hunger strike on April 5 demanding the passage of a people-inspired Lokpal Bill, ended on April 9. The five days of the agitation saw the mass media, especially...

In less than a fortnight of its formation, the joint committee for drafting the Lokpal Bill is falling apart. Even as civil society representatives Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan are battling attacks on their integrity, another civil society leading light, Justice N Santosh Hegde, is thinking of quitting the panel. Stung by Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh's references to his ineffectuality in dealing with corruption in Karnataka, Hegde, who is the...

“No element of truth in the entire malicious campaign” Civil society member on the joint drafting committee on the Lokpal Bill, Arvind Kejriwal, on Thursday ruled out the resignation of co-chairman Shanti Bhushan from the panel in the wake of the Noida farm plot allotment issue. He said they would remain focussed on drafting an effective Lokpal Bill. “There is no element of truth in the entire malicious campaign,” Mr. Kejriwal...

Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Thursday called upon anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare to distance himself from Congress president Sonia Gandhi who, he said, faced allegations of involvement in scams. It was ironical that Ms. Gandhi should express support for Mr. Hazare's fight against corruption, Dr. Swamy told journalists here. Pointing out that Mr. Hazare wanted Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to quit the committee formed to draft the Lokpal Bill because...