Cong backs Pawar, questions Anna's Gandhian credentials

Congress today backed Sharad Pawar by questioning the Gandhian credentials of Anna Hazare for justifying the recent attack on the Agriculture Minister and said any attempt at instigating people was condemnable.

Congress on Wednesday backed Sharad Pawar by questioning the Gandhian credentials of Anna Hazare for justifying the recent attack on the Agriculture Minister and said any attempt at instigating people was condemnable.

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Party spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters that the basic principle of the Gandhian thought was non-violence and wondered how could anyone justifying violence be Gandhian.

On Pawar's statement that Justice P B Sawant Commission had spoken about the maladministration and corruption by Hazare, Tewari said that the report of the Commission was self-explanatory.

"The report is in the public domain and for everyone to read and come to conclusion," he said when asked whether the Congress shares the NCP supremo's view.

Earlier in a statement, Pawar lashed out at Hazare for his remarks justifying the recent physical attack on him, saying any further assault on him would make it amply clear from where the instigation emanates.

However, in a statement, he appealed to his followers that Hazare's views and utterances should be addressed maturely and with restraint and no one should indulge in any retaliatory violence.

Pawar's statement came in response to a blog posting by Hazare in which he attacked the NCP chief saying he has an "old habit of protecting corrupt people" and one should think why he was attacked.