In his letter to UPA chairperson Smt. Sonia Gandhi, social activist Anna Hazare expressed his doubt that some corrupt forces are trying to derail the process of drafting a new Lok Pal Bill. He wrote, "The developments of the last few days have been a cause for concern. It seems that corrupt forces in the country have united to derail the process of drafting an effective anti corruption law through the joint committee. "Together we have to defeat their designs," he urged Mrs. Gandhi.

The letter comes in the wake of controversies surrounding a CD containing a purported telephonic conversation between co-chairman of the joint committee for drafting the Lokpal Bill Shanti Bhushan, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and former Samajwadi party leader Amar Singh, allegedly about attempting to influence a judge. "One of their strategies is to smear the reputations of the civil society members in the committee. Whereas I am of the view that the people working for public must be subjected to public scrutiny, however, when blatantly false accusations are made, fabricated CDs are planted, then one feels that the purpose is not an honest public scrutiny but to tarnish reputations," Anna Hazare said in his letter.

In his two-page letter to Ms. Gandhi, Anna Hazare complained against a party General Secretary, who has been attacking his campaign, of making many statements which were "factually wrong" and asked her whether she approved them. He also referred to an unnamed minister, who is part of the ten-member joint committee on the bill, and charged him with making false statements that the civil society representatives have "succumbed" to government's pressure and "diluted" the law. Obviously, Anna was reffering to Digvijay Singh as the party secretary, who on Sunday made statements questioning the amount raised for Mr. Hazare's fast. Earlier Union Minister and joint committee member Kapil Sibal had expressed some controversial views on the Bill.


Anna Hazare wondered what would be the outcome if the government nominees in the committee were subjected to "similar scrutiny or witch hunt". He added, "I would urge you to advise your colleagues not to try to derail the process of drafting the law. The country is in no mood to wait any longer to have strong anti-corruption law. People are very agitated. I fear of the consequences if the process were derailed."