India: Hazare wants winter session extended to pass Lokpal (Ombudsman) Bill

New Delhi, Dec 15 (PTI) Social activist Anna Hazare who has been spearheading a demand for an empowered Lokpal (ombudsman) in India Thursday said the ongoing winter session of Parliament should be extended to pass the Lokpal Bill and threatened to go on a hunger strike if it is not introduced soon. His remarks came a day after a consensus eluded political parties on the pending Lokpal Bill. The activist, who has already undertaken three fasts in furtherance of the demand, said he has confidence in Parliament that it will pass the bill as everybody in government has given his team the assurance that it will be done. "(There will be a consensus) in Parliament if not at all-party meeting. All MPs are there, it will be passed there.... Yesterday people put forward right points, some pointed out the deficiencies. "Everybody in the government is giving us assurances that we will get a Lokpal Bill. So we should have faith in them. But if they don't bring it, then we will have to agitate," he said ahead of an extended meeting of his Team Anna's Core Committee. Hazare was responding to questions on consensus eluding the all-party meeting on Lokpal Bill and apprehensions that the bill will not be passed in the ongoing winter session. Repeating his demand for extension of the ongoing session to pass the bill, he said, "If there is no time for passing the bill (according to the present schedule), then extend it. "It is important for the country. Earlier also, you have had occasions when the Session was extended," he said. He also said the venue of his proposed protest from December 27 could be shifted to Mumbai depending on the weather conditions in Delhi. "If the climate is good (i.e., not very cold), then it will be in Delhi," he added. PTI