Both government representatives and civil society members on Thursday expressed their willingness to co-operate with each other in drafting a strong and effective Lokpal Bill.

During the day, there were three conferences, where the two sides targeted each other but both of them unanimously agreed to arrive at consensus and formulate a draft.

Though Anna Hazare and his team members warned that they will continue from where they had stopped and resume their fast from August 16 if the Government failed to come up with a strong Lokpal Bill, Anna hailed Moily’s attitude and said they would continue to talk till the last moment.

This was followed by another press conference by Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal and Salman Khursheed, who denied that the discussions had been bitter or had broken down. They hoped to draft the Bill in co-operation with the five members of civil society on Joint Drafting Committee.

Mr. Chidambaram stated that it might not be possible to complete the job by June 21, but it would certainly be completed by June 30^th. The Government representatives were open to discussion even after June 21^st, if needed.

Similarly Mr. Hazare and his team said they would be more than happy if the government thought a consensus was possible and said they would not mind continuing deliberations even beyond June 21^st.

Report by Sharika