Anna Hazare

New Delhi, Oct. 25: The Congress today chose not to lock horns with Anna Hazare over his remarks about a government “gang of four”, but sought to create an impression that his aides were giving him a bad name.

Hazare’s blog has accused the unnamed “gang of four” of blocking an effective Lokpal bill and defaming his team members.

The Congress sent out two messages: that the views expressed in the blog are not Hazare’s, and that his aides’ wrong-doings have begun to tarnish his image.

The party’s intention is to drive a wedge between Hazare and his team members, whom it wants to portray as backroom manipulators exploiting the Gandhian’s popular appeal to build an anti-Congress movement.

“Anna’s aides have created the maximum problems for him in recent days,” party spokesperson Rashid Alvi said.

“We didn’t point fingers at Kiran Bedi and whatever came (out) was through (a) media expose. And it is Swami Agnivesh, not the government, who is asking for clarification from Arvind Kejriwal for diverting Rs 80 lakh to his NGO. We have nothing to do with these unseemly developments.”

Alvi said the expression “gang of four” was objectionable and added: “We respect Annaji and don’t expect him to use language that is not in harmony with our cultural ethos.”

Other Congress leaders too avoided attacking Hazare and targeted the aides, often hinting that they might have a role in the use of abusive language in the blog.

“I can say that I have never seen Anna using harsh words in his personal interaction,” law minister Salman Khurshid said.

However, though Congress leaders are convinced that Hazare’s blogs are being written by others, few actually believe that he would not have approved the use of expressions such as “ruffians” for cabinet ministers.

“He has a rightist mindset and takes irrational positions on sensitive issues. If he can repeatedly describe ministers as liars and looters from a public platform, why won’t he use this language in writing?” a senior leader said.

He added: “But we don’t want to attack him directly as people still hold him in very high esteem.”

Hazare’s latest blog says: “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 the Jan Lokpal bill.”

It adds that only a “handful” of cabinet ministers are opposed to the “Jan Lokpal bill”.

“It is similar to a village where there are two to four goons who hold the entire village to ransom,” the blog says. “In (the) government there is a majority of people who are righteous but can’t go against these ruffians.”

There is a clear hint that the possible members of the “gang” include Pranab Mukherjee, P. Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, Khurshid and Veerappa Moily. But the Congress wants Hazare to spell the names out.

Digvijaya Singh tweeted today: “Anna has blogged against gang of four? Who are the lucky ones? I am curious!”

Several Congress leaders attacked Bedi and Kejriwal.

“Kiran Bedi has accepted she has done wrong. She has cheated some institutions. If she is returning the money, it doesn’t mean she has not done any crime,” MP Sanjay Nirupam said. “These kinds of stands should not be taken by Annaji. The whole country supports him and he shouldn’t get into this issue.”

Shakil Ahmed said Bedi’s actions amounted to “corrupt and unethical” behaviour, and that people would not support any attempt to defend her.