Anna Hazare being influenced by people with political motives: Digvijay Singh

New Delhi, Dec 10(ANI): Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh today said that veteran social activist Anna Hazare was being influenced by people around him.

Singh's statement comes after Hazare strongly lashed out at the Central government and Parliamentary Standing Committee, saying that they had 'betrayed' the people of the country by drafting a 'weak' Lokpal Bill.

"Anna is a simple man who is being influenced by people with political motives who surrounded him," Singh said while addressing mediapersons in New Delhi.

"He has the full right to go on fast, but only the Parliament has the authority to pass any Bill," he added.

He also denied that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre is under any pressure from the veteran social activist.

Team Anna has invited all political parties, including the Congress and the BJP for Hazare's day long fast to be held at Jantar Mantar on Sunday.

Earlier, in the day, Hazare had said that the government had always promised to frame a strong anti-corruption legislation, but it has failed to fulfill its promises.

"The government is intoxicated by power and money. It can't see anything else. It has forgotten the sacrifices made by Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru. Like a drunk man becomes unconscious, similarly the government is unconscious," Hazare said.

"It is our job to get them into their senses. This in only a day-long agitation, after December 27, it will be a long agitation," he added.

The Jan Lokpal Bill is seen as a weapon to root out corruption and nepotism from the government machinery and in public life.

The proposed Bill envisages the setting up of a national anti-corruption watchdog to check financial mismanagement and corrupt practices that have deeply pervaded several democratic and civic institutions of India.

The 74-year-old social activist had staged an indefinite hunger strike against graft that he gave up on August 28 when the government agreed to deliberate the issues raised by him and his forum vis-a-vis the passage and enactment of the Lokpal Bill, a suggestion that has received unprecedented nationwide backing. (ANI)