External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Tuesday urged activist Anna Hazare and his associates to contest general elections. "They should contest the elections so that we all know who has the support of the people," he said. Hazare and members of his team have gone on an indefinite fast at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to seek the implementation of the Lokpal Bill.
As thousands gathered at Jantar Mantar to support Team Anna's fight for the Jan Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazre joined other fasting members, while Arvind Kejriwal released his book titled Swaraj. Priyanka reports.
Anna Hazare and his team on Tuesday spoke in different voices on the indefinite fast from Wednesday with the activist asserting that it is for Lokpal Bill while his aides said it is limited to their three demands, including a special probe into allegations against Union ministers.
In a sarcastic attack on Anna Hazare and his team, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Monday asked the social activist not to take any credit for "the anti-Congress sentiments" in the country created by rising prices.
Yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Monday said he would take a call on contesting the 2014 Lok Sabha elections depending upon the success of his agitation scheduled next month in Delhi.
Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Saturday said Arvind Kejriwal had no option but to resign after losing majority on the floor of the assembly.
Social activist and member of Team Anna, Arvind Kejriwal, on Wednesday said that the attacks on Gandhian Anna and members of his team were aimed at diverting their attention from the core issue of Jan Lokpal Bill.
Arvind Kejriwal, social activist and founder member of the India Against Corruption, tells Sreelatha Menon their biggest mistake was not to give room to other issues and voices when support for the movement against corruption was at its peak.
With Team Anna asking people not to back their party in Hisar Lok Sabha bypolls, chief ministers of three Congress-ruled states and senior leaders on Monday hit back at the Jan Lokpal Bill champions, dubbing them as agents of Opposition "trying to grind their own axe in the guise of fighting graft".
Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare feels there is no 'ideological confusion' in his anti-Congress posture and the appeal to elect 'good people' from all parties.
Activist Swami Agnivesh, who fell out with Anna Hazare's team during the agitation over Lokpal Bill, on Tuesday sought forgiveness from the Gandhian and the others "who felt hurt" through his "unintentional acts".
Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare on Wednesday ruled out his joining politics or his movement taking a political turn.
The Centre was on Wednesday directed by the Delhi high court to consider in three months a plea seeking an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation against members of Team Anna for allegedly receiving funds from foreign organisations to run their agitation for the Lokpal Bill. A bench of Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw asked Additional Solicitor General A S Chandhiok to treat the PIL as a representation and dispose it of.
Veteran activist Anna Hazare's campaign for Jan Lokpal Bill and his crusade against corruption has given the beleaguered Opposition, particularly the Bharatiya Janata Party, a platform to contest the Lok Sabha polls.
Justice Santosh Hegde on Monday disapproved the move to bring breach of privilege motion against Kiran Bedi and actor Om Puri for their controversial remarks about parliamentarians at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi saying such a motion should be used in exceptional cases.
Supporters of Anna Hazare on Friday blocked the Pune-Ahmednagar Highway near Ralegan Siddhi, the Gandhian's native village in Western Maharashtra.
Team Anna on Friday made it clear that a mere discussion in Parliament will not serve any purpose and the Gandhian will not call off his fast till Parliament passes a resolution that the cleared Lokpal Bill will include the three contentious points raised by them.
As Anna Hazare's campaign for a strong Lokpal Bill gathers pace in rural India, people in a non-descript village in Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh have gone a step further in extending their support to him by establishing a make-shift temple, idolising the Gandhian.
Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday forced adjournment of Rajya Sabha till noon when it created uproar over alleged shift in government stand on anti-graft activist Anna Hazare's Jan Lokpal Bill.
'Much of what we call corruption is but a side effect of a deeper malaise. The chalta-hai attitude and its innovative twin jugaad. Shortcuts have become endemic. Every shortcut we take compromises a principle, corrodes an institution and sets a wrong precedent,' says Shashi Shekhar.
Politicians, legislators and bureaucrats from Maharashtra played a major role in facilitating talks between Team Anna and the government, reports Toral Varia
All business establishments in Guwahati on Tuesday downed their shutters for the day to express solidarity with Team Anna's agitation against corruption and to demand the adoption of the Jan Lokpal Bill.
Swami Agnivesh, one of the 22 members of the core committee set up by activist Anna Hazare, claimed on Monday that there has been no response from the Centre so far to end the activist's indefinite fast against corruption. "In the last seven days, we have never had anyone mediating between us and the government about the Jan Lokpal Bill," he said. He rejected media reports about the government roping in any mediators.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said that the leaders of the civil society movement for a Lokpal Bill have given an impression as if they have become legislators.
Amid a strong anti-corruption campaign led by Anna Hazare, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Saturday said Parliament should set aside all business and pass a strong Lokpal Bill at the earliest so that questions raised over the credibility of Legislature are answered.
Anna Hazare's team would end the confrontation if the government agrees to 'modify substantially' its stance on several clauses of the Lokpal bill. Sheela Bhatt reports from New Delhi.
Bhikhabhai Jethwa, father of slain RTI activist Amit Jethwa, is filing a writ petition in the Gujarat high court on Thursday against the Narendra Modi government's failure to appoint a Lokayukta.
Insisting that there was no wrongdoing in the arrest of Anna Hazare, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said the government would deal with him "administratively and politically" but made it clear that his Jan Lokpal Bill was not acceptable.
The San Francisco Bay Area unit of India Against Corruption on Monday slammed the arrest of activist Anna Hazare. Nearly 150 members of the Indian American community gathered at the Civic Centre Plaza in Los Angeles to show their support to Anna Hazare on the eve of Independence Day.They expressed their support for Hazare and the millions of Indians who are demanding the Jan Lokpal Bill to end corruption in India.
Yoga guru Ramdev, who along with his supporters faced police crackdown during their agitation at Ramlila Maidan, on Monday, wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him to exercise "self restraint" and ensure that similar action was not taken against Anna Hazare and his team.
Reacting strongly to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement that hunger strikes were not a way to solve the problem of corruption, activist Anna Hazare's team on Monday called him an "insensitive" person.
The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a PIL seeking action against Anna Hazare and his team members for allegedly showing disrespect to the national flag during his agitation for the Lokpal bill last year.
Senior Bhartiya Janata Party vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has condemned the manner in which the Congress and United Progressive Alliance ministers launched an all-out attack against Anna Hazare on Sunday --less than 48 hours before he embarks on the second indefinite fast -- to press for total acceptance of Jan Lokpal bill.
Prominent Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal admitted to a group of journalists on Wednesday that they too have made many mistakes during the course of Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement.
Activist Anna Hazare and the government seem to be headed for a confrontation with the Gandhian on Saturday deciding to go ahead with his indefinite fast from August 16 for a "strong" Lokpal.
Former Indian Police Service officer turned social activist Kiran Bedi on Friday dismissed suggestions that civil society had gone too far on the Lokpal Bill, saying the Anna Hazare-led agitation was very much "avoidable" but was made relevant by government's inaction on the issue.
If quota in Lokpal is taken off the Yadav leaders will object it, and if it remains, the BJP will oppose it. This situation is advantageous for the Congress to take credit and pass the blame, reports Sheela Bhatt.
The Congress on Monday dared social activist Anna Hazare to contest from the Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha seat in New Delhi after the latter released findings of his team's survey in Union Minister Kapil Sibal's constituency on the Lokpal issue
The ongoing slanging match between the civil society group and the government poses a danger of stalling the Lokpal Bill and derailing the movement against corruption.
Anna Hazare on Wednesday said he is going to embark on a nation wide movement against corruption from November 30 and will soon form a core committee.