File photo of Anna Hazare.
Social activist Anna Hazare has written a letter to BJP chief Rajnath Singh, complaining that a leader of his party from Haryana was creating hurdles in the installation of his statue in Gurgaon. Mr Hazare has urged Mr Singh to help.
Rajnath Singh on Friday met Anna Hazare's Gurgaon-based activists at his Delhi residence following the letter he had received.
"Anna wrote to the BJP chief that party's Haryana spokesperson, Umesh Aggarwal, was putting obstacles in the installation of his statue in Gurgaon. Gurgaon police arrested four activists from the Anna camp on a fake complaint filed by Aggarwal," an activist told IANS.
"Though I am against installing my own statue, an activist with me, PL Kataria, and his team, was keen to install the statue at a crossing (chowk) in Gurgaon. I request you (Rajnath) to help Kataria," Mr Hazare wrote in his letter to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief.
The letter was written on December 29, 2013, and Mr Hazare mentioned that Mr Kataria has been working with him since his movement for the Lokpal bill first began.
Mr Kataria and four others were arrested by Gurgaon police on April 15, 2012, as they were putting up a six-foot-tall statue of Mr Hazare at the Sector 4-7 intersection in Gurgaon.
"We were arrested by police on a fake complaint filed by Umesh Aggarwal. The BJP leader said in his complaint that the Sector 4-7 intersection was named after freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai, and could not be named after Anna Hazare," Mr Kataria told IANS.
"An RTI application revealed that the Sector 4-7 chowk has no name," Mr Kataria said.
"We told Rajnath Singh that Aggarwal was busy in anti-social and anti-BJP activities. The party had expelled Aggarwal in 2010 for his activities for one year," Mr Kataria said, adding that the BJP chief promised strict and stringent action in the matter.
Mr Aggarwal fought the last Haryana assembly elections from Gurgaon on a BJP ticket, and lost. He was defeated by Independent Sukhbir Kataria (no relative of PL Kataria).
Sukhbir Kataria is now Youth and Sports Minister of Haryana.