Thaindian News

Chennai/Delhi, June 9 (IANS) Hitting out at Team Anna members for their allegations against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the allocation of coal blocks, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office V. Narayanasamy Saturday said that Anna Hazare is a simple man but is surrounded by anti-national elements.

“Anna Hazare is a simple man but is surrounded by anti-national elements. I would like to say that Arvind Kejriwal collected huge money at the time of Anna Hazare’s agitation… what happened to that money…nobody knows,” Narayanasamy told reporters in Chennai.

Targeting another member, Kiran Bedi, he said: “Kiran Bedi is accused of collecting money from organistions; she attended meetings by going economy class and then collecting the money for business class… and that allegation was proved and now she has refunded the money… this is the reputation.”

He said that as far as the agitation by yoga guru Baba Ramdev to bring back black money is concerned, the government has already submitted a white paper in parliament and is trying to bring back the money stashed in banks abroad.

“What is the reputation of Baba Ramdev, we all know,” he said.

According to the minister, the prime minister has assured transparency in coal allocation but there was no transparency during the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) rule.

“Our government is a transparent government. The PM wanted to have a transparent form of coal block allocation in 2004. During the NDA government, there was no transparency,” he said.

Team Anna has been targeting the prime minister over the auction of coal blocks during the period he held the coal portfolio.

In Delhi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari called Narayanasamy’s comment “unfair”.

“I think it is unfair to call anyone anti-national. There can be differences in opinion…if somebody campaigns against the government, then they cannot call them anti-national,” Gadkari told reporters in the national capital.