The government may put off the next meeting of the joint committee slated on May 2 for drafting the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill.

The controversy raging over a CD and allegations surfacing about former law minister Shanti Bhushan as one of the representatives of crusader Anna Hazare has vitiated the climate, particularly after the activists accused the government of the smear campaign against them, a top government source said.

The Hazare group is quite upset over those in the ruling Congress and the government trying to discredit its members to frustrate the exercise of drafting the Bill, notwithstanding a letter of Sonia Gandhi to the crusader denying any hand in the sinister campaign. It, however, made it known on Thursday that it will not buckle down or any of its members resign from the joint committee because of the deliberate campaign to defame them.

RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal and former police officer Kiran Bedi told a pres conference in New Delhi that Shanti Bhushan is associated with them and made the co-chair of the committee only to use his legal knowledge in drafting the Bill. If he or any one of them has done any crime, let there be action, but they will not be cowed down by the media hype being created to frustrate their anti-corruption drive, Kejriwal affirmed.

Former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, who has been carrying on a continuous campaign against Shanti Bhushan and his lawyer son Prashant, who is also a member of the committee, on Thursday appeared slightly mellowed down, finding not much response from the Congress despite he throwing his hat in the ring and become centre of the controversy.

Apparently conveying his frustration, Amar Singh said he has been always used as a "fodder" by the Congress, now and also earlier during the trust vote in the Lok Sabha after the Left withdrew support to the UPA government on the nuclear deal. 

He also tried to affirm that he was not against Shanti Bhushan nor did he make any allegations against him. "We both are victims of the CD controversy," he added.

In the Congress, a powerful group sensed Amar Singh trying to get an entry into the party by attacking the Hazare group and warned the leadership against any such eventuality as he has no credibility and the party would get negative publicity if he joins the Congress.

The Congress sources said the party leadership is quite aware that Amar Singh is a loose mouth who can not be relied upon, particularly because it would only hamper the party's prospects in Uttar Pradesh where Rahul Gandhi is actively involved. Any overtures to him are also fraught with the risk of not getting support of the Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav in the eventuality of any crisis in the Lok Sabha, the sources said.