Team Anna Seeks Independent Probe into Charges against PM


New Delhi: With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declaring that he will quit public life if corruption allegations are proved against him, Team Anna on Wednesday demanded an independent probe into the charges, saying they will be most happy if these are proved wrong.

Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal said it was not they who came up with charges against him but it was in the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on coal bloc allocations.

“We will be most happy if the allegations levelled against the Prime Minister, is found false. But how will it be proved? For that we need to have an independent investigating agency to probe it,” he told reporters.

 “The Prime Minister has said that the allegations levelled against him were baseless, unfortunate and irresponsible. We want to tell him that it was not we who levelled these allegations but the CAG, which is a Constitutional body,” he said.

Mr. Kejriwal said he would like to ask the Prime Minister whether he considered “irresponsible” the CAG report which is pegging a loss of 1.80 lakh crore to the exchequer in the allocation of coal blocs.

 Team Anna’s reaction came following Dr. Singh’s remarks that he will quit public life if corruption allegations are proved against him.

“If there is even an iota of truth in it, then I will give up my public career and the country can give me any punishment,” the Prime Minister had said, adding his public life has been an open book.

Source: PTI