Mumbai, Oct 27: Anna Hazare's peace of mind has been destroyed by his own people and not the “gang of four” in the Congress he referred to, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray said today.
“I don't want to get into the issue of who the ‘gang of four' is and what kind of conspiracy they have hatched. It is my sincere wish that Anna who is observing ‘maun vrat' (vow of silence) should get peace of mind,” Thackeray said in today's editorial of his party mouthpiece “Saamna”.
The Sena patriarch's comment came on a day when Hazare, in his latest blog posting, announced his decision to continue his vow of silence.
“My health still does not permit me to give up my ‘maun vrat'. There is still some swelling on my feet and the knee troubles me a lot,” 74-year-old Hazare, who is in Ralegan Siddhi, 200 km from Mumbai, wrote in his blog.
Thackeray said Hazare was pointing fingers at the “gang of four” because misdeeds of members of his “parallel government” are being exposed.
He said Anna should explain how can Prashant Bhushan's comments supporting plebiscite in Kashmir and expose of Kiran Bedi's inflated travel bills be termed as a conspiracy against him.
Former Team Anna member Swami Agnivesh has spoken of Manish Sisodia and Arvind Kejriwal's financial misdeeds in running their NGOs, Thackeray said.
Hazare and Kejriwal have come out in support of Bedi, the Sena supremo said and wondered how such deeds fit in the campaign against corruption and movement for Jan Lokpal.
Defending Bedi against the allegations of “air travel corruption”, Hazare had said last Monday that a “gang of four” in the ruling party was behind the campaign against his team.
“To accuse and humiliate seems to be the mantra of the few. This is not the first time that such accusations have been levelled against Bedi. Every member of Team Anna had to face accusations and character assassination by the gang of four. Who are these people? Those are the very same people who are not in favour of Jan Lokpal Bill,” he had said in his blog.
Hazare, however, was silent on the composition of the “gang of four” he was referring to.
