Social activist Anna Hazare Friday asked Aam Aadmi Party member Gopal Rai to leave Ralegan Siddhi after he interrupted an address by former army chief V.K. Singh.
The former army chief obliquely charged the year-old political party of "deserting" Hazare for political ambitions, which is when Rai interrupted him.
"Many people supported Annaji when he raised his voice for Jan Lokpal, but later they deserted him. Today, they say it is because of them that there is Annaji. Nobody can undermine something that Annaji has created," V.K. Singh said, without referring specifically to the AAP, which put up a spectacular show in the recent Delhi assembly elections, in which it debuted.
Rai, who reached here to express solidarity with Hazare who is fasting for the passage of the Lokpal Bill and was sitting in the the audience, started an argument with V.K.Singh on hearing of the "desertions".
Intervening to end the verbal duel, Hazare took the mike and said: "I had asked you (Gopal Rai) not to stay back and fast here. You can leave if you are here to create trouble."
After leaving the venue, Rai spoke to the media and said: "People who abandoned Anna and ran after Modi for a seat are teaching lessons to AAP."
"He (V.K. Singh) is clearly close to the BJP and indulging in sycophancy to get a BJP ticket. He should not try to teach the AAP what to do," Rai told reporters.
Reacting to the episode, AAP leader Manish Sisodia said in Delhi: "Those on the stage with Anna are agents of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party."
