Punjab CM backtracks, now supports inclusion of PM in Lokpal purview

Chandigarh, Aug 24 (ANI): Punjab Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Prakash Singh Badal has backtracked on his earlier stand of including the Prime Minister and the higher judiciary in the Lokpal Bill.

"Judiciary should be in its ambit. The Prime Minister should also be in its ambit, so that an effective Lokpal bill is made so that everyone should be scared to indulge in such acts (of corruption)," said Badal.

Extending his support to social activist Anna Hazare and his movement, Badal said: "If corruption were curbed then it would help in eradicating poverty, unemployment and illiteracy from the country."

"We are with this movement and is such a bill could have been brought earlier then there would not have been such huge poverty, illiteracy and unemployment in India," he added.

Meanwhile, veteran lawyer Ram Jethmalani said honest people should not be afraid of scrutiny under the Jan Lokpal Bill.

"The Lokpal Bill is worthwhile. No honest judge of the Supreme Court, no honest Prime Minister has to fear an honest Lokpal. This is the main dispute. Other are small disputes, which can be resolved in ten minutes," Jethmalani told reporters in Noida.

Jethmalani also condemned eminent Muslim cleric Syed Ahmad Shah Bukhari's recent remarks in which he asked Muslims not to raise slogans like 'Vande Mataram' and 'Jai Hind', as they are against the tenets of Islam.

"Shahi Imam should be sent out of India. He should be deprived of citizenship and thrown into some desert. What does he mean? 'Vande Mataram' was sung in the Constituent Assembly of India on August 14, 1947 and every Muslim member of the Constituent Assembly got up and clapped. Who is this man now in the year 2011, he wants to spread this poison," said Jethmalani.

On Monday, asserting that slogans like 'Vande Mataram' and 'Jai Hind' , are against the ethos of Islam, Bukhari had said that the few thousand Muslims participating in Hazare's anti-graft movement did not mean that they were representatives of the 25 crore Muslims of India. (ANI)