Give Congress a historic defeat in Hisar: Team Anna

Hisar (Haryana): Launching a direct attack on the Congress ahead of the Hisar Lok Sabha by-poll, Right to Information (RTI) activist and Team Anna member, Arvind Kejriwal Saturday called upon voters to hand down a "historic defeat" to the party.

"This is your moment in India's political history. Hisar is just not another by-election. The country is looking at you. If you give a historic defeat to the Congress, it will be Anna Hazare's victory. Don't poll even a single vote to the Congress. Teach them a lesson for shielding corruption," Kejriwal told a gathering at Narnaund town in the constituency.

"The Congress is synonymous with corruption in this country. That is why it needs to be defeated," he said.

Kejriwal sought support from the people of Hisar to vote against the Congress and others who indulged in corruption.

"The government is afraid that half of its ministers will land up in jail if the Jan Lokpal bill, prepared by Anna Hazare and his team, becomes a law."

"The Congress party does not want to send corrupt people to jail. It does not want to take any action against them either. That is why they are opposed to the Jan Lokpal bill," he told the gathering.

People in the gathering shouted slogans of support for Kejriwal and Team Anna as he listed various issues against corruption before them.

He even suggested to the Congress candidate, three-time former MP Jai Prakash, to withdraw from the contest. "You will become a hero by doing this."

Hazare's associate Manish Sisodia, who accompanied Kejriwal, admitted that the anti-corruption campaign of Team Anna had political links.

"Yes, we have taken up the cudgels to defeat the Congress in elections. That is the only political link we have," he said.

However, Kejriwal told reporters that Anna Hazare's campaign against corruption was his own and not associated with any party or organisation.

He said that the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) could not take credit for Anna's anti-corruption campaign in recent months.

"Let the RSS take credit for the riots in Gujarat and the corruption by the BJP leadership in Karnataka. We have nothing to do with this," he said.

Armed with a recorded message of the social activist, members of Team Anna Saturday began their anti-corruption and anti-Congress campaign from here ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha bypoll.

The by-election to the Hisar seat, to be held Oct 13, was necessitated after former chief minister and sitting MP Bhajan Lal's death in June.

Hazare himself is not scheduled to come here for the campaign though his recorded message will be played for the people in the next 2-3 days, activists of the anti-corruption forum here said.

In his video message, Hazare has called upon voters not to vote for the Congress as the party was opposed to bringing about an effective Lokpal bill.

"I want the youth and others to carry the CDs containing Anna's message to every village and corner of the Hisar seat. People should not vote for the Congress," he said.

Former police officer Kiran Bedi and lawyer Prashant Bhushan are likely to visit here in the next couple of days.

The contest for this seat is tough for the three main players -- Kuldeep Bishnoi of the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) who is son of the late Bhajan Lal, Indian National Lok Dal's (INLD) Ajay Chautala who is son of former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, and three-time former MP Jai Prakash of the Congress.

Stakes are high for all three parties and their candidates. Hisar was the only seat the Congress could not win out of the state's 10 Lok Sabha seats in the 2009 general elections.
 

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