New Delhi, May 28 (IBNS): Key member of anti-corruption group Team Anna, Prashant Bhushan, on Monday attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and said the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was using him as a shield like 'Shikhandi' to perform all corruption activities.
Shikhandi is a character in Hindi epic Mahabharata who acted as a shield to Pandavas to kill Bhishma.
"The Congress party has put him (Manmohan Singh) in front as a Shikhandi. The ministers are saying that he has a clean image and he is our leader, so please do not point any charges against us," Bhushan said.
He said, "If you (PM) act as a shield and allow all sorts of corruption activities then how can this country benefit from those steps?"
Slamming Bhushan for making the comments, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav said: "The Prime Minister is not only the Prime Minister of the nation but a leader of the country. He is a clean and honest man. The comments made by Prashant Bhushan are wrong. He should take them back."
In Mahabharata, knowing that Bhishma would not react to Shikhandi, who is not a male, Arjuna hid behind Shikhandi and attacked Bhishma with a devastating volley of arrows.
Thus, only with Shikhandi's help could Arjuna deal a death blow to Bhishma, who had been virtually invincible until then.
Team Anna members on Saturday targeted Singh and 14 other ministers in the union cabinet, including external affairs minister S M Krishna and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, by demanding investigations against them in matters of corruption.
"We have sent a letter to the prime minister demanding a special investigating agency to probe the charges against all 15 [including the PM] and come up with findings in six months," said Arvind Kejriwal.
This time the group did not spare the PM even while also targetting Congress stalwarts like Pranab Mukherjee.
"Manmohan Singh is the Prime Minister since May 2004 and was personally in-charge of the Coal Ministry from November 2006 to May 2009. Under his watch a major coal allocation scam took place which allowed private firms to make windfall gains," alleged Team Anna in their latest attack on the government.
Team Anna cited portions of a draft CAG report to bring the charges against Singh.
Other ministers mentioned by Team Anna are Sharad Pawar, S K Sindhe, M K Alagiri, Farooq Abdullah, Kapil Sibal, Salman Khurshid, G K Vasan, Vilasrao Deshmukh, Praful Patel, Kamal Nath, P Chidambaram and Virbhadra Singh.
Team Anna group, which is led by the self-styled Gandhian activist Anna Hazare, has threatened to launch an indefinite fast from July 25.
Prashant Bhushan your view was right, but we citizens of India willing to know after proper investigation that PM Manmohan Singh is accused so is other minister, 14 thiefs Alibaba will try to catch someday and your team will come out with enough evidence, UPA has enough cobwebs in its almirah, pribably they themselves would not be able to clean, your team will alert them only in cleaning fine, natoion is very closely observing Congress Tamasha, and reply will be given well in 2014 General Election
Posted by L.Raghunanda Chickmagalore/Bangalore on 2012-05-28 20:12:28
Anna team got mad better they have to admitted in mental hospital. They lost their balance and not allowing the Govt to Run Because they want popularity.The fools are thinking themselves Great especially Arvind and Bhusan. They should thrown out of this country
