New Delhi, June 20 (IANS) Civil society members were Monday set to meet government representatives to iron out differences over the drafting of the Lokpal bill even as Karnataka Lokayukta and committee member Justice Santosh Hegde said he was skipping the meeting.

The central government and civil society activists, led by social activist Anna Hazare, are engaged in a war of words for over a month over issues like bringing the prime minister, judges and parliamentarians under the ambit of the Lokpal.

The differences have been growing with the June 30 deadline to submit the draft bill coming close.

"The government is trying to delay the Lokpal bill. There are many issues where the two sides don't see eye to eye," Hegde Monday told Times Now channel. He said he will attend the Tuesday meeting to "show solidarity".

The eighth meeting of the panel starts 11 a.m.

Hegde had earlier said that he would not be able to attend the meeting due to prior commitments.

"The elected people in the government are behaving like unelected tyrants. They have forgotten that the highest position in the democracy is held by the citizens," Hegde said.

"Inclusion of the prime minister's office in the ambit of lokpal bill is still a sticky point," added Hegde.

Hegde, a retired judge of the Supreme Court, is one of the five civil society members on the 10-member panel that includes five central cabinet ministers.

The other civil society members are Anna Hazare, activist Arvind Kejriwal and lawyers Shanti Bhushan and his son Prashant.