Mumbai: Team Anna made a Christmas Day appeal to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to enact the "best possible" Lokpal bill as Anna Hazare prepared for a three-day fast here for a corruption-free India.
But tension was in the air, with the Congress branding Hazare an "RSS agent" and questioning his language vis-a-vis politicians, and Hazare aide Arvind Kejriwal responding that Anna was only "India's agent".
Preparations were in full swing yesterday to spruce up the sprawling MMRDA ground where Hazare will fast tomorrow for the fourth time since April this year when he dramatically escalated the Lokpal campaign.
Hazare, 74, will arrive here today and the three-day hunger strike will start tomorrow, with his aides expecting thousands to turn up in support of the soldier-turned-activist.
Hazare has also called on people to court arrest across the country on January 30 in support of an effective Lokpal bill to check corruption in high places.
India Against Corruption (IAC) activists finalised security details for the ground, put up fire extinguishers at key spots, gave finishing touches to the VIP and media enclosures, and were readying medical facilities.
Some 200 labourers worked furiously, overseen by about 300 activists, half of them women. Police had already deployed 500 men at the ground.
The MMRDA ground is located in Bandra East, in an upcoming business hub which, IAC members believe, the mass of middle class supporters will find easier to access than the Azad Maidan in south Mumbai.
Activist Anjali Damani said close to 77,000 people had already registered for Hazare's Jail Bharo (Fill the jails) agitation and "more requests are pouring in".
Hazare decided to fast after trashing as weak the government's Lokpal bill introduced in parliament.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh called Anna an "RSS agent" saying there were photographs of Hazare with RSS veteran Nanaji Deshmukh.
Hazare confidant Arvind Kejriwal dismissed the charge, saying it wan an attempt to derail the movement. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the Congress had "lost its mind" and that many Congress leaders knew Nanaji Deshmukh.
The IAC has said while it was unhappy with the government's Lokpal bill, it wanted the parliament to come out with the best anti-corruption legislation.
Mudslinging
Congress ‘lost its mind'
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Prakash Javadekar yesterday attacked the Congress party for calling Anna Hazare "an RSS agent", stating that the Congress had "lost its mind".
"The Congress has lost its mind. And it is because of their frustration that they are talking rubbish and asking inane questions which need not be answered," Javadekar told reporters yesterday.
Earlier yesterday, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh called Hazare "an RSS agent" after a Hindi daily carried a photograph of Hazare with RSS leader Nanaji Deshmukh and reported that the social activist had worked under Deshmukh's leadership.
"Nanaji was a great patriot and an eminent social activist with whom all parties had cordial relations. Even Digvijay Singh has been seen in many photographs with Nanaji," Javadekar added.
But tension was in the air, with the Congress branding Hazare an "RSS agent" and questioning his language vis-a-vis politicians, and Hazare aide Arvind Kejriwal responding that Anna was only "India's agent".
Preparations were in full swing yesterday to spruce up the sprawling MMRDA ground where Hazare will fast tomorrow for the fourth time since April this year when he dramatically escalated the Lokpal campaign.
Hazare, 74, will arrive here today and the three-day hunger strike will start tomorrow, with his aides expecting thousands to turn up in support of the soldier-turned-activist.
Hazare has also called on people to court arrest across the country on January 30 in support of an effective Lokpal bill to check corruption in high places.
India Against Corruption (IAC) activists finalised security details for the ground, put up fire extinguishers at key spots, gave finishing touches to the VIP and media enclosures, and were readying medical facilities.
Some 200 labourers worked furiously, overseen by about 300 activists, half of them women. Police had already deployed 500 men at the ground.
The MMRDA ground is located in Bandra East, in an upcoming business hub which, IAC members believe, the mass of middle class supporters will find easier to access than the Azad Maidan in south Mumbai.
Activist Anjali Damani said close to 77,000 people had already registered for Hazare's Jail Bharo (Fill the jails) agitation and "more requests are pouring in".
Hazare decided to fast after trashing as weak the government's Lokpal bill introduced in parliament.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh called Anna an "RSS agent" saying there were photographs of Hazare with RSS veteran Nanaji Deshmukh.
Hazare confidant Arvind Kejriwal dismissed the charge, saying it wan an attempt to derail the movement. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the Congress had "lost its mind" and that many Congress leaders knew Nanaji Deshmukh.
The IAC has said while it was unhappy with the government's Lokpal bill, it wanted the parliament to come out with the best anti-corruption legislation.
Mudslinging
Congress ‘lost its mind'
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Prakash Javadekar yesterday attacked the Congress party for calling Anna Hazare "an RSS agent", stating that the Congress had "lost its mind".
"The Congress has lost its mind. And it is because of their frustration that they are talking rubbish and asking inane questions which need not be answered," Javadekar told reporters yesterday.
Earlier yesterday, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh called Hazare "an RSS agent" after a Hindi daily carried a photograph of Hazare with RSS leader Nanaji Deshmukh and reported that the social activist had worked under Deshmukh's leadership.
"Nanaji was a great patriot and an eminent social activist with whom all parties had cordial relations. Even Digvijay Singh has been seen in many photographs with Nanaji," Javadekar added.
