Salman Khurshid hits out at 'Team Anna', calls them a threat to democracy

Chennai, June 10 (ANI): The war of words between the Central Government and anti-corruption brigade 'Team Anna', led by veteran crusader Anna Hazare continued to gather steam on Sunday, as Law and Justice Minister Salman Khurshid said the team was harming democracy.

"Hazare and his aides had started off on a bright note by raising their voices against corruption, but have now lost the plot completely," Khurshid told media here.

"How come they never asked for a probe against themselves? We are at least subject to public scrutiny. We are willing for any public scrutiny. As you can see, the government has its own methods of keeping a check on what is happening in the country. But, I have not heard Team Anna ever having said we are willing for a probe," he said.

Khurshid further said: "There are many questions they must first answer, I don't think they have the right to ask questions and, I don't think they are being very helpful and very good to democracy in our country."

"We all felt that they started off with a good idea, idea of containing corruption and questioning corruption was a good idea, but today they are doing the greatest disservice to this good idea by converting it into a personal campaign and a personal ambition. I will quite confidently say that the country will give them a suitable answer when the time comes," he added.

Team Anna has called for an agitation against graft on July 25 if the government does not take action into their demands.

The Prime Minister Office (PMO) had earlier refused to accept Team Anna's demand for an independent probe against Prime Minister in connection with an alleged coal allocation scam, saying the manner in which loose allegations have been levelled was not acceptable.

Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office V Narayanasamy wrote a letter to Anna Hazare on Friday that allegations against the prime minister were based on a leaked draft of the CAG report and reports in the media.

The letter, which was released on Saturday, was in response to Team Anna's letter of May 26 in which it charged Manmohan Singh and 14 cabinet ministers of "massive corruption" and asked for independent probe. Manmohan Singh was in charge of the coal portfolio from November 2006 to May 2009.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had earlier said Team Anna raising the issue of alleged corruption in allocation of coal blocs was a "natural consequence" of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "shying away" from replying to the opposition's demands for a clarification in Parliament.

Anna Hazare had earlier said he suspected whether the Prime Minister is clean after going through the CAG report on coal allocation and the file prepared by his team members.

"I have seen the papers, I have suspicion. I had always thought that he was a clean Prime Minister, but after reading the files I doubt there is something wrong," he said. (ANI)