Anna threatens indefinite hunger strike if demands not met

After he was requested not to join the hunger strike from the first day owing to his poor health, anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare today said he would join the protest after four days if their demands were not met by the government. [caption id=“attachment_389523” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Anna Hazare has decided to join the fast later. PTI[/caption] “I do not care for my health. My blood pressure and heart rate are fluctuating but I would prefer to die for my country. I will participate in the fast no matter what,” Hazare told a press conference today. Hazare said he would give the government four days to accede to his demands before joining the hunger strike. If he joined the strike, the activist said he would not break his fast until the government gave into his demands. The activist also alleged that the government had created a fabricated CD recording that it had given to a magazine in order to defame them. “We have always been careful in all our financial dealings and yet the government has attempted to defame us in this manner,” Hazare said. Arvind Kejriwal, a senior member of Team Anna, said that they had a range of demands, the first of which was the passage of the Lokpal Bill that they had proposed and the creation of a Jan Lokpal. He also proposed the creation of a special investigation panel, consisting of three former Supreme Court judges, to probe the allegations of corruption they had levelled against ministers in the UPA government. “The panel should also probe the allegations of irregularities against us and if we are guilty, we should face double the punishment,” Kejriwal said. Cases against presidents of political parties should be taken out of the CBI’s jurisdiction, should be independently probed and tried in fast track courts to ensure justice is dispensed quickly, he said, adding it would prevent the CBI from being misused by the government. He also claimed that all the political parties that had backed Pranab Mukherjee in the presidential poll had cheated the nation, since they had backed him only due to political pressure. “It would have been better if Pranab Mukherjee had faced a probe and cleared of charges of corruption before becoming president of India,” Kejriwal said. Anna Hazare also accused the government of constantly attempting to cheat and betray them over the issue of creating and passing the Lokpal Bill. “The government has constantly cheated us. It also cheated Parliament,” he said. He said the government had also sent Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid to speak with him but later MoS V Narayanasamy had written a letter to his supporters in an attempt to create a rift.