IF ATTACKED, I WILL RETALIATE, SAYS NITISH ABOUT TEAM ANNA

Bihar: Nitish Kumar today explained his strong remarks against Anna Hazare’s group of activists. “If somebody attacks me, I have the right to retaliate,” he said in Bettiah, where he held a townhall meeting or janta durbar.
Mr Kumar and Team Anna have found themselves exchanging criticism this week. First, the activists expressed their disappointment with Mr Kumar’s version of a new law against corruption Bihar. Then Mr Kumar returned the serve by saying, “I don’t need a certificate from them. “I am in direct contact with the people of my state… everyone should know their limits.”
Mr Kumar is on a seva yatra or in-the-service-of-the-people tour of Bihar. This is his sixth such roadshow. He says he wants to gauge the people’s satisfaction with public services and development projects.
Team Anna is championing a national Jan Lokpal Bill – People’s Ombudsman Bill – which births a new independent agency that would handle complaints of grafts against government servants. How that agency’s members would be selection – and the extent of their powers – has pitted Anna against the Union government.
This week, Anna’s key aide, Arvind Kejriwal, said the activists are disappointed with the Lokayukta Bill that Bihar is blueprinting. Mr Kejriwal said the Bihar Bill shows the same sort of limitations that the Union government has been trying to introduce for the Lokpal or ombudsman agency. Team Anna says that Bihar’s version of the Bill gives the government too great a say in the selection and removal of members of the Lokpal; it also requires the ombudsman to get the government’s approval to investigate or prosecute an officer accused of graft.
Mr Kejriwal said that Mr Kumar should draw from the Lokayukta Bill passed recently by the state of Uttarakhand, which his ruled by the BJP. That legislation has been hailed as exemplary by Team Anna because it includes all the features the activists deem necessary for an effective Lokpal. For example, the Chief Minister of the state would be accountable to the Lokpal, along with all bureaucrats and senior judges.
Mr Kumar runs his government in Bihar in alliance with the BJP. He has said there is question of his replicating Uttarkhand’s Bill, and that some of the points that have irked Team Anna have also been misreported. He has asked his Deputy Chief Minister, Sushil Kumar Modi, to make himself available for suggestions from Team Anna. Mr Kumar hopes to introduce the Lokayukta Act for Bihar in the winter session of the Assembly...