Anna Hazare today stepped up his attack on his one-time protege Arvind Kejriwal accusing him of being responsible for "misuse" of the money collected during Jan Lokpal bill agitation and said he would seek a probe into the whole episode if he was told to account for.
"I have not touched even Rs 5 until now, so where does the question of keeping accounts come from? I am a pauper (fakir). If the court asks me about where the money has gone, I will tell the court to investigate the matter," said the social activist while reacting to allegations that Rs 3 crore collected during the Jan Lokpal Bill agitation was being misused. A PIL in this matter is pending in the Supreme Court.
Accusing Kejriwal of being responsible for misusing his name while collecting money during the Jan Lokpal Bill agitation, the social activist said "I have been saying this repeatedly. Those who collected money, those who have spent money should give an account to the public.
"I have always maintained transparency in my life and I always preached others to do the same. I have always stayed away from money", Hazare said.
Responding to a question at the Agenda Aaj Tak Conclave on the money collected amounting over Rs 3 crore in his name during the Jan Lokpal Bill agitation, Hazare said "I wrote a letter to those who were collecting money in my name. I asked them why did they use my name to collect cash? If they wanted to collect money, they could have used their name and not mine."
Asked whether his name was misused, he reponded in the affiramtive. "Yes, (my name) was misused (Ha galat istemal hua).
