Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh said Anna Hazare's anti-graft crusade did not impact the Hisar by-poll outcome while ridiculing senior BJP leader LK Advani for taking out a rath yatra on deflated tyres.
"If Kuldeep Bishnoi (of Haryana Janhit Congress who won the Hisar by-election) claims local factors and not Hazare's anti-graft movement tilted the scales in his favour, who am I to counter?" Singh said here on Tuesday. He refused to admit the outcome rang alarm bells for the Congress.
Singh scoffed at Advani for saying that the UPA government did not have any political will to fight corruption. "We ask him why action was not taken against former BJP president Bangaru Laxman under Prevention of Corruption Act when he was seen taking money during a sting operation," Singh said. "Where was Advani's political will then?"
The Congress general secretary also labelled Advani's much-hyped rath yatra a flop show. "The arrest of (former Karnataka chief minister) BS Yeddyurappa punctured the wheels of his rath," he said.
Singh then dubbed Team Anna's anti-graft campaign political. "Anna ceased his fast only after the government acceded to his team's three demands which were the appointment of lokayuktas in all states, introduction of citizen's charter and bringing 50 lakh government employees under the purview of Lokpal. We don't understand what went wrong in the last three months that they continue to oppose us," he said.
{{/usCountry}}Singh then dubbed Team Anna's anti-graft campaign political. "Anna ceased his fast only after the government acceded to his team's three demands which were the appointment of lokayuktas in all states, introduction of citizen's charter and bringing 50 lakh government employees under the purview of Lokpal. We don't understand what went wrong in the last three months that they continue to oppose us," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"By opposing us, they have proved their campaign is political," Singh said, pointing out that the RSS had supported Anna's campaign.
"Anna sees corruption only in Congress-ruled states. He has ignored the cases of corruption against the Reddy brothers in Karnataka," he added.