Mumbai:
Anna Hazare has criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yet again over the auction of coal blocks during the period he held the coal portfolio. Mr Hazare said there was "room for suspicion" and that he does think the Prime Minister to be a clean and honest man who has to function by "remote control."
"The loss to the state exchequer is around Rs.2 lakh crore. The Prime Minister may not have directly benefited but the money has gone somewhere. There should be a probe by a retired judge," Mr Hazare said on Tuesday in Mumbai, where he arrived to resume his five-week Maharashtra state tour that started on May 1.
Mr Hazare also dismissed reports about differences in Team Anna and that yoga guru Baba Ramdev had snubbed his core team member Arvind Kejriwal at the joint rally Sunday in New Delhi.
"There were no differences over the issue of Baba Ramdev visiting BJP president Nitin Gadkari, and the yoga guru's disapproval of Kejriwal for naming the ministers in their rally in Delhi. There are no problems among us. The media is creating it," he said.
Replying to a query on why Team Anna is not moving court on the issue of corruption charges against 15 ministers, including the prime minister, the Gandhian social activist said by the time the judgment comes, the tenure of these ministers would end.
Mr Hazare has been on a state-wide tour of Maharashtra to create awareness about the need for a strong anti-corruption Lokayukta legislation in Maharashtra. The tour will end June 6.