Congress shielding those with black money abroad, says Ramdev

New Delhi, Aug 12 (IANS) Yoga guru Ramdev Sunday hit out at the Congress after the government ignored his 5 p.m. deadline for acting on his demands - bringing back black money, a stringent Lokpal bill and independent investigation agencies -and accused the party of "shielding" its leaders whose black money is stashed abroad.

He also announced that various political parties will support his agitation from Monday.

"Out of the 50,000 people whose black money is stashed abroad, most of them are from Congress party and dynasty. This is the reason that the government is not taking action against them," said Ramdev at Ramlila Maidan here.

"By not revealing the names of the people involved in keeping their money in foreign banks, the government has proved its intentions," he alleged.

A fiery Ramdev reiterated that his movement is not a "political battle" but he will continue to uproot the the corrupt government.

He also alleged that Rs.2,000,000 crore black money was invested in the country through Foreign Direct Investment.

"Congress has also refused to give the names of those people who have invested money through FDI in this country. It goes to show how serious the government is in looting this country," said the yoga guru.

He alleged that if the stringent Lokpal bill is passed, then 90 percent of the cabinet ministers will be behind the bars.

Ramdev said his movement will be joined by many political parties Monday and representatives from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Telugu Desam party (TDP) were already there.

Meanwhile, former army chief Gen.V.K. Singh, who had participated in Anna Hazare's agitation at Jantar Mantar last week, joined Ramdev on his dias.

Earlier in the day, Ramdev had warned of a "revolution" if the government fails to initiate steps on the demands made by him.

He Thursday began a three-day fast against black money and corruption which ended Saturday evening.

Kiran Bedi, a member of erstwhile Team Anna which Hazare dissolved recently, also joined Ramdev on the podium and echoed his demands.

"There is a need to bring black money from the foreign countries. Apart from that, the country needs stringent Jan Lokpal bill," Bedi said.