Convene all-party meet on Lokpal: Naidu

Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday demanded that the Centre convene an all-party meeting to resolve the Lokpal Bill issue. “All-party meeting is necessary to clear doubts among leaders on the anti-corruption bill,” Naidu said.

Talking to media persons after emerging out of a meeting with nine Opposition parties including the Left, Naidu said the present version of the Lokpal Bill was `unacceptable’ as it has no teeth to curb corruption.

Naidu said the Opposition parties would jointly organise nationwide protests on August 23 demanding an effective legislation to curb corruption at high places. He said people were voluntarily extending support to civil activist Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement, especially in view of government’s failure on that front. 

Earlier, Naidu extended his full support to Anna Hazare, who is staging dharna at Ramlila Maidan.

During his meeting with national leaders, Naidu also discussed about reviving third front. Several prominent leaders including CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat, Janata Dal chief H D Deve Gowda, Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh, Debabrata Biswas (Forward Bloc) and Abani Roy (RSP), M Thambidurai (AIADMK) and Bhratruhari Mahtab (BJD) attended the meeting.