Anna Hazare's village head to contest polls on NCP ticket

Anna Hazare may be one of the most vocal critics of Sharad Pawar and even seemed to defend the slapping incident involving the Union minister but he has "no issues" with the Sarpanch of his village contesting zilla parishad polls on NCP ticket.

"I was approached by NCP leaders and activists requesting that I should contest the February 7 Zilla Parishad elections on the party ticket. I sought Anna's blessings and permission, which he granted," Ralegan Siddhi Sarpanch Jaisingh Mapari said today.

Mapari, who was earlier actively associated with NCP, had stayed away from the party during the past one year when he was involved with Hazare's anti-corruption movement.

"I asked Anna if he was okay with my desire to contest the election. He said he had no issues with it. I have sought NCP's candidature for the ZP poll," Mapari said.

"He got slapped! Only one slap?" This was Hazare's first reaction to a group of journalists after Pawar was slapped by a youth in Delhi in November.

"It is increasingly becoming difficult for people to run their families. When the limit to patience ends, then some people take law in their own hands and commit such acts," Hazare had said in his blog after the incident.

Pawar had lashed out at Hazare for his remarks justifying the attack, saying "In the recent past, Shri Hazare by supporting the physical assault on me at a public function has given a new definition to the concept of 'Gandhism' and 'non-violence'."

Responding to Pawar's statement, the Gandhian admitted in his blog that he had "committed violence" when he reacted that way to the slapping incident but went on to add that for the betterment of society, "I do not consider this violence as wrong."

After Hazare's reaction to Pawar being slapped by a man in New Delhi in November, NCP workers had staged protests in his village.

Last year, Mapari had led a delegation from Ralegan Siddhi to Delhi to invite Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi to the village but returned without meeting him as there was no prior appointment.

Meanwhile, Hazare told PTI that the decision of voting in favour or opposition of Mapari would be that of the villagers and the Gram Sabha and not him.

"I am not personally against or in favour of any political party. I expect that all the parties should field candidates whose background is clean and who have a clear vision and understanding of social and economic development," he said.