The ?don?t vote for the Congress? campaign by social activist Anna Hazare?s followers during the Hissar Lok Sabha bypoll has driven All-India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Digvijay Singh to write to Hazare, asking him not to surround himself with known Congress baiters.
Referring to the lawyer father-son duo of Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan as well Arvind Kejriwal as people with known anti-Congress views, Singh said, ?Be it Shanti Bhushan or his son Prashant or your colleague Arvind Kejriwal…, all these people have been opposed to the Congress. These people are taking benefit of your clean character for their own political gains.?
He also joined issue with Hazare on his selective targeting of the Congress. ?You have never raised your voice against the BJP,? Singh said. ?What is being seen now is that you have been strongly opposing the Congress and as against this you have been praising BJP?s Narendra Modi despite the fact that there is no Lokayukta in Gujarat for the past nine years,? Singh said in the four-page open letter.
Party sources say Singh?s letter also reflects the party?s concern over team Anna?s proposed tour of Uttar Pradesh, which is to go to Assembly polls next year. Team Anna?s Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Kumar Vishwas plan to tour major towns of Uttar Pradesh between October 16 and 22.
In the letter, Singh has also repeated his claim that the BJP had offered to make Hazare a presidential candidate. ?The talk is that the BJP wants to make you a candidate in the presidential election next year. You become a candidate, but beware of the lofty promises of the BJP, which is in the habit of leading people up the garden path,? he said.
Referring specifically to the Hissar bypoll, he asked Hazare: ?Are you not aware of the history of the family of late Bhajan Lal? Are you not acquainted with the history of Chautala family? Are you oblivious of the fact that there were cases of corruption pending against them in courts??