Lokayukta Santosh Hegde is a BJP man: Congress

Stepping up its attack on Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare-led civil society, Congress on Wednseday dubbed the yoga guru as a 'king of black money' and Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde as a 'Bharatiya Janata Party man'.

All India Congress Committee general secretary B K Hariprasad strongly opposed the demand for bringing the prime minister under the ambit of Lokpal saying it would be an 'insult' to the 125 crore people who elect the prime minister.

"If there is any corruption charge against the prime minister, it should be discussed in Parliament and Parliament should take action," said Hariprasad.

Attacking the civil society members led by Hazare for their 'antics', the Congress leader wondered what contribution Santosh Hegde could make to the Lokpal when he as Lokayaukta of Karnataka could not take action against the 'most corrupt' government of B S Yeddyurappa.

He also pointed out that Hegde had resigned from the post of Lokayukta and then withdrawn his resignation after an appeal by BJP leader L K Advani.

"Hegde's actions prove that he is a BJP man...the civil society members should first advise Advani to prevail upon BJP's poster boy Narenda Modi to constitute the institution of Lokayukta in Gujarat first," he said.

Hariprasad said Ramdev was a 'bhogi' and not a 'yogi' and questioned from where the yoga guru accumulated so much wealth.

"Ramdev is sitting on a pile of black money. A yogi is one who renders selfless service while the bhogi enjoys everything. He has no moral right to speak on it," Hariprasad alleged.

He said Ramdev was not doing charitable work but engaged in business activities and should answer whether he acquired the assets through profits or donations of black money.

The Congress spokesperson also used the occasion to attack Ramdev over his fast describing him as 'nothing more than a mask of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh'.

He said both RSS and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had nominated Ramdev as their chief patron for taking up the issue of black money.

He said he saw a 'clear RSS pattern' in the way the fast was organised and the events that later unfolded. Hariprasad said the behaviour of the civil society should be civilized and not political.

He also suggested if civil society members believe that they have huge mass following and the members of Parliament are not taking up the issues of corruption in Parliament seriously, they should carry such agitations outside the residences of the 545 MPs of the respective areas instead of gathering at Jantar Mantar.