Anna Hazare indulging in cheap publicity stunt: Buta

JALANDHAR: Reacting sharply to Anna Hazare's decision to campaign against Congress in the upcoming Hisar bypoll, former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Buta Singh has said the social activist is indulging in "cheap publicity stunt" to stay in news.

"There is no doubt over Hazare's movement against corruption as he has strongly raised the issue. But now he is indulging in cheap publicity stunt by attacking the Congress in this manner," Singh, who was in Jalandhar to attend a function, said yesterday.

He said the social activist should refrain from indulging in political controversies as it could affect his image among the people.

Asked whether Hazare's campaign against Congress over corruption charges would have an adverse impact on the party's prospect in the upcoming Punjab polls, he countered, "If the Congress is facing corruption charges, who has given a clean chit to BJP and SAD?"

Hazare has announced that he will ask the people in the election-bound states to defeat Congress if the Jan Lokpal Bill was not passed in the Winter Session of Parliament.

Asked on the 2G spectrum scam, Singh said only the Congress-led UPA should not be blamed for the scam as its roots lie when senior BJP leader L K Advani was the Information and Broadcasting Minister.

On the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections, he said there should be a chief minister from the Dalit community as there was a significant number of Dalits in the state.

Singh said he has raised this matter with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.