Congress pulls up BJP for providing clarifications over Anna's RSS links

New Delhi, Dec 26 (ANI): Congress Party on Monday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for providing clarifications over veteran social activist Anna Hazare's close ties with the radical Hindu outfit Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

"Whenever someone asks Annaji how his ideologies are same as the ideologies of Bharatiya Janata Party and RSS; is it that he may have got some links with them; I am witnessing it for the very first time. BJP should feel elated if somebody links it with Annaji, but they say that they have no connection with Annaji and RSS," said Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi.

"This is a weird situation, that instead of supporting Anna Hazare and his team, BJP and RSS start clarifying their own position that they have no connections with Annaji and his team. Instead they must feel proud that they are being linked with Annaji and his team," he added.

BJP spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain had on Sunday slammed Alvi for mudslinging against Anna, and said that the former must not attend the Parliament sessions, since lawmakers belonging to several opposition parties like BJP and RSS are the Members of Parliament.

"Now, Rashid Alvi's photograph with me has been published several times and both of us go to the same mosque to offer our prayers, Jama Masjid in New Delhi. So, he has even offered prayers with me and if I am a BJP leader, then Rashid Alvi also becomes a BJP leader or what? This is like saying that if a Congress leader is sitting in a plane and there is also a BJP and RSS leader travelling in the same plane, then will Congress leaders jump off the plane?" said Hussain.

"They are unnecessarily passing such comments. Rashid Alvi should be told that several RSS leaders are members of the Parliament, so why does Rashid Alvi go and sit in the Rajya Sabha?" he added.

A Hindi daily published a photograph of Hazare with BJP ideologue Nanaji Deshmukh and claimed that the anti-corruption crusader had worked under the latter's leadership in 1983.

Rashid Alvi had earlier on Sunday asked Hazare to clear the air over his alleged links with the RSS.

Team Anna and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government at the Centre have locked horns over the Lokpal Bill issue, with the former stating that the Bill's latest version is 'weak', while the latter says that it has gone out of its way to incorporate the views of all sections of society.

Anna Hazare, who is spearheading the movement for a strong Lokpal, will begin his three-day fast in Mumbai from December 27 to pressurise the government to accept their demands including bringing the CBI under the ambit of the anti-corruption ombudsman. (ANI)