Thangkabalu hits out at civil society, Ramdev

CHENNAI: TNCC president KV Thangkabalu has rubbished the civil society groups in pressing for the passage of the Lokpal Bill as 'unnecessary'. Attacking the leaders of the civil society groups for taking up the cause, he said many leaders had been fighting for a long time against corruption. There was no need for 'social activists' and 'yoga gurus' to take up the cudgels on their own, instead of following in the footsteps of the leaders, he said.
TNCC also reached out across the lines of alliance politics to welcome Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's statement that Prime Minister should not be brought under the ambit of the Lokpal Bill. The statement comes even as Congress ally and DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi has stopped short of making his preference on the matter known directly. Karunanidhi had, in a letter in party mouthpiece Murasoli, pointed out that his government had passed antigraft legislation in 1972 that included the CM. This has given room to interpretation that the DMK chief was in favour of the inclusion of the PM under the Lokpal Bill, a stance that could cause some discomfort to the Congress.