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Hazare puts off anti-Cong yatra till end of winter session

Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare has put off his planned yatra against the Congress demanding a strong Lokpal Bill and will now wait till the end of the winter session of Parliament.

"Hazare will not say anything now. Wait till the winter session is over. Let us see whether the Congress brings the bill," Arvind Kejriwal, a key Team Anna member, told newsmen in New Delhi on Friday.

However, other members of the team would visit Uttar Pradesh from October 17 educating people about the need for a strong Lokpal.

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'For Lokpal, we need to frighten Sonia, not Maya'

"We will ask people to wait till the winter session and will ask them not to vote for Congress if they do not bring the bill in the winter session," he said.

On October 17, the team will go to Banda in Bundelkhand and Kanpur and the next day, they will be in Unnao and Lucknow.

Asked why they were not opposing the Bahujan Samaj Party, Kejriwal said, "There is no need for that. Even if Mayawati desires (that the bill is enacted), the Lokpal Bill will not come. But if Sonia Gandhi desires, it will come in two minutes. So we need to frighten Sonia and not Maya."

'Govt's plan to confer constitutional status to Lokpal a delaying tactic'

On the government plans to confer constitutional status to Lokpal, he said they welcome the idea but expressed fear that it was a delaying tactic.

"The Congress will say they tried to bring it but there was no consensus and they could not muster 2/3rd majority for a constitutional amendment. So what we want is the body and parallel, may be, you can give it constitutional status."