There will be indefinite fast from Dec 27 if Parliament does not pass Lokpal Bill, according to Mr Anna Hazare.
Stating that there will be an agitation to fill jails across the country from January 1, he said activists will stage a dharna in front of houses of MPs who oppose Lokpal Bill. Mr Hazare will lead protest opposite residences of Ms Sonia Gandhi and Mr Rahul Gandhi’s residences.
Earlier in the day, Mr Hazare said that the ongoing winter session of Parliament should be extended to pass Lokpal Bill and threatened to go on a hunger strike if it is not introduced soon.
His remarks came a day after a consensus eluded political parties on Lokpal Bill.
The activist said that he has confidence in Parliament that it will pass the bill as everybody in government has given his team the assurance that it will be done.
“(There will be a consensus) in Parliament if not at all-party meeting. All MPs are there, it will be passed there...yesterday people put forward right points, some pointed out the deficiencies.
“Everybody in the government is giving us assurances that we will get a Lokpal Bill. So we should have faith in them.
But if they don’t bring it, then we will have to agitate,” he said ahead of the second day of Team Anna’s Core Committee meeting.
Mr Hazare was responding to questions on consensus eluding the all-party meeting on Lokpal Bill and apprehensions that the bill will not be passed in the ongoing winter session.
Repeating his demand for extension of the ongoing session to pass the bill, he said, “if there is no time for passing the bill (according to the present schedule), then extend it.
“It is important for the country. Earlier also, you have occasions when the session was extended,” he said.
He also said the venue of his proposed protest from December 27 could be shifted to Mumbai depending on the weather conditions in Delhi. “If the climate is good, then it will be in Delhi,” he added.
Replying to questions on the all-party meeting, Team Anna member, Ms Kiran Bedi, said almost all the parties were unanimous on CBI getting autonomy.
When pointed out that some leaders have cautioned against rushing through the bill, Ms Bedi said, “Who are these parties? Not the BJP surely as Sushma Swaraj tweeted that they want it in this session. Are they managed voices, isolated voices?”.