Jain calls Hazare 'Taliban Gandhi'; accused of corruption

Jalgaon (Maharashtra), Aug 7: After anti-corruption leader Anna Hazare has been referred to by various names during the course of his high-powered Lokpal Bill campaign, this name would have been least expected by the Gandhian. The Shiv Sena leader and former Maharashtra minister Sureshdada Jain has now called Anna Hazare a 'Taliban Gandhi".

Jain has slammed Hazare and filed a defamation suit citing that “nobody can misuse the name of Mahatma Gandhi" even at the sake of a common good of wiping out corruption.

He has been quoted as saying, "Everybody is against corruption. But we are a country of great institutions and they cannot be bypassed by using such pressure tactics. Everything will happen on its own time. You cannot resort to blackmailing tactics of this kind." He said this in the wake of Anna's proposed fast that is slated to kick off from Aug 16.

Anna commenting on Jain's suit against him said, "The whole world knows who is Anna Hazare and who is Suresh Jain. Such people pelt stones at trees which bear fruits."

In what can be seen as a jibe based on an old irk, Hazare had once accused Jain way back in 2003 of corruption. Jain was the then Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and state minister. He had also named two other ministers on charges of graft namely Nawab Malik and Padamsinh Patil.

A commission was appointed then headed by former judge P.B. Sawant who later found that the allegations were true. Following the indictment, Jain was forced to quit the ministry. He went a step further a slapped a defamation case on Hazare and said, "Who is he to speak about corruption? I had exposed his corruption rackets and that is why he agitated against me."

On the complaint filed by Jain against Hazare that charged him of corruption as well, the commission that probed the matter found that Hazare too was indulging in several counts of corrupt practices.

OneIndia News