New Delhi, Aug 12 With just three days left for Anna Hazare''s proposed fast for a "strong" Lokpal, uncertainty prevailed over the venue of the agitation, which was today denounced by the government as "unjustified" with a message that it could intervene if his health fails.
Hazare, who was denied permission by Delhi Police to hold fast at the capital''s protest hotspot Jantar Mantar and offered Jai Prakash Narain Park as the venue, is yet to get permission from CPWD, which owns the place.
"We are yet to receive the permission from CPWD," Manish Sisodia, a Hazare team member, told PTI, adding a decision would be communicated to them through the Delhi Police.
Sources in Urban Development Ministry, which is in charge of CPWD, said no decision had been taken.
The Hazare team had approached the CPWD yesterday seeking a nod for using the park for the social activist''s indefinite fast for withdrawal of the "anti-poor, anti Dalit, weak" Lokpal Bill from Parliament and introducing a stronger one.
Replying to questions over the issue, Home Minister P Chidambaram said Hazare''s "extra Parliamentary protest" at this stage "seems unjustified" but was evasive on the delay in grant of permission, contending that the matter rests with Delhi Police.
Hazare''s earlier fast, when the Lokpal bill was not in place, was "perhaps right" but not now when a bill has already been introduced in Parliament and the government has "moved forward" on it, the Home Minister said.
At the same time, he said, "everybody has a right to protest and the context and circumstances will decide whether the protest was right or not."
Hazare''s fast at Jantar Mantar in April had generated a nationwide agitation, forcing the government to set up a joint committee to draft Lokpal Bill. .
Hazare, who was denied permission by Delhi Police to hold fast at the capital''s protest hotspot Jantar Mantar and offered Jai Prakash Narain Park as the venue, is yet to get permission from CPWD, which owns the place.
"We are yet to receive the permission from CPWD," Manish Sisodia, a Hazare team member, told PTI, adding a decision would be communicated to them through the Delhi Police.
Sources in Urban Development Ministry, which is in charge of CPWD, said no decision had been taken.
The Hazare team had approached the CPWD yesterday seeking a nod for using the park for the social activist''s indefinite fast for withdrawal of the "anti-poor, anti Dalit, weak" Lokpal Bill from Parliament and introducing a stronger one.
Replying to questions over the issue, Home Minister P Chidambaram said Hazare''s "extra Parliamentary protest" at this stage "seems unjustified" but was evasive on the delay in grant of permission, contending that the matter rests with Delhi Police.
Hazare''s earlier fast, when the Lokpal bill was not in place, was "perhaps right" but not now when a bill has already been introduced in Parliament and the government has "moved forward" on it, the Home Minister said.
At the same time, he said, "everybody has a right to protest and the context and circumstances will decide whether the protest was right or not."
Hazare''s fast at Jantar Mantar in April had generated a nationwide agitation, forcing the government to set up a joint committee to draft Lokpal Bill. .
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