Don?t support smear campaign: Sonia to Anna

Replying to Gandhian Anna Hazare?s letter on ?smear campaign?, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday said she is a strong supporter of Lokpal.

?I strongly support institution of a Lokpal that is consistent with the practices and conventions of our Parliamentary democracy. I do not support or encourage politics of smear campaign,? Gandhi said in her letter to Hazare.

“You should have no doubt of my commitment in the fight for probity in public life,” read her letter.

Hazare on Monday wrote to Gandhi over the ?smear campaign? launched against civil society members of the joint drafting committee of Jan Lokpal Bill and asked her to advise her ?colleagues? not to try to derail the process of drafting of law.

In a two-page letter Hazare spoke out against Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh who has apparently been attacking his campaign citing facts that were factually wrong. He also criticised the covert attempt to ?smear the reputations? of the civil society members.

“…I am of the view that the people working for public must be subjected to public scrutiny, however, when blatantly false accusations are made, fabricated CDs are planted…one feels that the purpose is not an honest public scrutiny but to tarnish reputations,? he said.

Hazare also took on an Union Minister and a member of the panel without naming him (but believed to be referring to Kapil Sibal) for giving out misleading statements suggesting that the civil society had softened its stance over the bill.

Formed after a fast-unto-death by Gandhian social activist Anna Hazare, the unprecedented 10-member team, seeing equal participation of the government ministers and civil society activists, aims to draft a tough anti-graft bill pushed back for 42 years.