Anna to end fast as Govt bows to people power

New Delhi: Anna Hazare will be breaking his fast on Saturday after the Government agreed to forming a joint committee to redraft the Lokpal Bill.

Anna Hazare said that this was the happiest day of his life.

"Government has accepted all our demands and I will end my fast tomorrow at 10 am. This is a victory for the entire nation," Hazare said on Friday.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he is happy that Hazare gave up his fast. "I am happy that government and civil society have reached an agreement to fight corruption," he said.

After a day of high drama and four days of Anna Hazare's unrelenting fast-unto-death, the Government, on Friday, finally agreed to forming a joint committee to draft a stronger Lokpal Bill.

Union Minister Kapil Sibal, who led the Government team of negotiators, welcomed Hazare's announcement and thanked him for it.

"This is a victory for democracy," he said adding it was for the government now now to issue an appropriate order constituting the committee that will include representatives of civil society and government.

The panel will have have five members and five representatives of the civil society. It includes Anna Hazare himself, but not as a chairman, lawyers Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan, anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal and former Supreme Court judge Santosh Hegde.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will be the Chairman of the committee that will also include Law Minister Veerappa Moily, Telecom Minister Sibal, Home Minister P Chidambaram and Water Resources Minister Salman Khurshid as members.

Anna said, "The committee should have people who are legally sound. If we have experienced people, why should we look for others?"

Just as this decision was made, on Friday, crowds across India and at Delhi's Jantar Mantar erupted in joy.

In the agreement, the government has committed itself to introducing the new Lokpal Bill in the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament.

Moily will be the convener of the 10-member Joint Drafting Committee that will commence its work forthwith and evolve its own procedures to prepare the proposed legislation.

"A Government Order will be immediately issued constituting the drafting committee incorporating the names of 10 members of the committee, the chairperson, the co-chair and the time frame," the agreement said.

Sibal told reporters that the drafting committee will have to work as quickly as possible so that the work is completed by June 30 and the Cabinet approval is taken before the start of the monsoon session. The session is likely to start in the first week of July.

He said the government was delighted at the fact that the government and civil society representatives have worked together. "This suggests the strength of democracy in our country that we are able to sit across the table and resolve issues which seem intractable."

Dismissing a suggestion that government had succumbed to pressure, he said government and the civil society were on the same page in the fight against corruption.

"It is a happy day for us," he said.

Earlier in the evening, Hazare said "Some shortcomings have been sighted in the government draft. So the fast will continue."

"We will let all of you know on Saturday about the decision." The statement came in what appeared to be an anti-climax after hopes were raised of an end to the fast on Friday night itself.

Friday was marked by hectic consultations within the government and between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi. In one of the meetings, the Prime Minister told his Cabinet colleagues that the problem somehow needed to be resolved at the earliest.

The bill will be introduced in the next session of Parliament.

However, Hazare's emissaries Kiran Bedi and Swami Agnivesh made it clear that the protest will not not end until the government issued the order for forming a new Lokpal Bill.

Activists have said that their fight to end corruption doesn't end here.

(With additional information from PTI)

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)