Pranab dismisses Hazare's recipe of right to recall, reject

Anna Hazare's demand for right to recall elected representatives and reject candidates is not feasible in a huge country like India, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday and claimed that the provision, if implemented, would only create political instability.

Without taking Hazare's name, Mukherjee said, "India is the largest functional democracy in the world with over 122 crore population and each Lok Sabha MP has an average electorate of 15 lakh. Under such circumstances, I do not know if such a demand is feasible."

"If implemented, it will create political instability in the country," he observed. Mukherjee was addressing a panchayati raj conference organised by the West Bengal Pradesh Congress.

Soon after he had ended his 12-day fast on the Lokpal issue, Hazare had said his fight would now be for the right to recall elected representatives and right to reject candidates as part of electoral reforms in order to contain corruption.

Shakeel Ahmed, All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of West Bengal, alleged in his speech that Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev were trying to divide the country.

"In 1977, the same had been tried by making false allegations against Indira Gandhi and then again in 1989, the BJP had tried to divide the country over the Ram Janmabhumi Babri Masjid issue," he claimed.