Cong ups ante against Hazare

New Delhi, Jul 18 (PTI) With civil activist Anna
Hazare's team questioning Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh's honesty, Congress party on Monday upped the ante
against the Gandhian seeking explanations from him on Justice
P B Sawant's report which had indicted the trust he was
associated with in a graft case.
Party spokesperson Manish Tewari said, "People who
hold the mirror of morality to the whole country and want to
teach values to others, should also see their faces in the
same mirror. Many people have asked what Hazare has to say on
the remarks by Justice Sawant in his report against Hazare."
The Maharashtra state government had instituted a
Commission of Inquiry under Justice P B Sawant, in September
2003 to inquire into allegations of corruption and
maladministration against several people, including Anna
Hazare.
The Commission submitted its report on February 22,
2005 in which it criticised Hind Swaraj Trust for spending
2.20 lakhs of its funds on the birthday celebrations of Hazare
finding it to be a "corrupt" practice. It also indicted Sant
Yadavbaba Shikshan Prasarak Mandal, a trust with which Hazare
is associated since its inception in 1980 for committing
"illegalities" in its audits.
Tewari said "when you raise the issue of morality,
then it becomes your responsibility to answer if any
commission of inquiry raises questions on your conduct."
Tewari also made light of Hazare's plans to meet the
Chief Justice of India to ensure that his proposed hunger
strike on August 16 does not meet the fate of Ramdev's fast at
Ramlila ground where the police allegedly lathicharged the
participants.