Law Minister Salman Khurshid, a key negotiator with Team Anna, today said there may have been 'errors of judgement' in handling Hazare's fast but there were no mistakes.
"Errors of judgement have been made, errors of judgement are made whenever you are involved in a difficult situation. Errors of judgement are not mistakes", Khurshid said in an interview with Karan Thapar.
"We made no mistakes. What we did may not have turned out to be the way it should. May be our calculation and anticipation turned out to be not what we thought it to be. But I am not prepared to admit we made mistakes," he said.
Defending the way the government handled the Anna Hazare agitation, he said: "It is courage of conviction. It is faith in yourselves. We are not pushovers. We might have made errors of judgment. We may have lost ground somewhere but we are determined to get that ground back."
Asked whether he is saying that the government has made no mistakes, Khurshid said: "The outcome of what you did depends on how you define a mistake. A mistake is to do something that you should not be doing."
He further said, "It is very sensistive, complex situation that has just unfolded into a good resolution."
To repeated queries whether government committed mistakes in tackling the situation, he said, "Ask me 100 times, my answer will be the same."
He said: "It is faith and confidence and I belive we do not want the government to be kicked around...It is the best possible resolution by Parliament."
Lokpal Bill in November
In a related development, government sources said a redrafted Lokpal bill may be brought in parliament during its winter session, that usually starts mid-November, after the parliamentary standing committee on law and justice deliberates over various drafts of the proposed anti-graft law.
The sources said, at that stage, amendments or changes in the legislation would be possible with the approval of both houses of parliament. After being passed by both the houses, it would go to President Pratibha Patil for approval before becoming a law.
On a day when activist Anna Hazare ended his 12-day fast in New Delhi over a strong Lokpal bill, the sources said the proceedings of the Saturday's special debate on the bill in parliament would be sent to the standing committee so that it could take a look at the MPs' unanimous decision of accepting three key demands made by Hazare.
Hazare's demands are a citizens' charter, creation of Lokayuktas in the states and inclusion of lower bureaucracy in Lokpal's ambit.