Social activist, Anna Hazare gestures after a meeting at the Finance Ministry in New Delhi on June 20, 2011, as senior lawyer Shanti Bhushan and RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal look on.
Ahead of the counting of votes for the Hisar Lok Sabha byelection on Monday, Congress candidate Jaiprakash has warned Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal that he could be beaten up like his colleague Prashant Bhushan.
Last Wednesday, Bhushan was assaulted by activists of the
little-known Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena in his chamber outside the Supreme Court for advocating a plebiscite in Kashmir.
Jaiprakash, a three-time MP and a former union minister, said on Sunday that people could beat up Kejriwal for his anti-Congress campaign.
"Team Anna has lost its way. Kejriwal's fate would be similar to Prashant Bhushan's for the political muck spread by him. The public could beat him up for his wrong moves," Jaiprakash said.
A few hours later he tried to take back his words: "All I had said was that Kejriwal's political message was wrong. Why would I threaten him? I don't even know him personally," Jaiprakash told HT.
Kejriwal said in response, "I have been informed by well-wishers about the threats, but we're going ahead with our work."
In a related development, the Bar Council of India has asked the government to get the attack against Bhushan properly investigated.