As Anna Hazare enters day four of his indefinite hunger strike for a strong Jan Lokpal Bill, the fast venue was also witness to a battle of words between AAP leader Gopal Rai and former Army chief VK Singh.
"We shouldn't split and form different groups in our fight against corruption. There are some who think they are even bigger than Anna," stated Singh, in an attempted dig at Arvind Kejriwal.
This led to a strong rebuttal from the AAP leader Gopal Rai. Sensing the situation, Hazare then asked Gopal Rai to immediately leave Ralegan Siddhi . "Why are you interrupting him? If you want to create a ruckus, you can go out," Hazare told Rai.
Hazare publicly rebuked Rai, asking him to leave the venue if he went ahead with disrupting the former Army chief's speech. "We haven't asked you to fast, if you want to create such noise then you can leave Ralegan Siddhi," Hazare told the AAP member.
Hazare's associate and former IPS officer Kiran Bedi is also expected to join Anna's fast from tomorrow. "People should dislodge the government through ballot if the bill is not passed in this session," she had said earlier.
The government has said it is serious about passing the ombudsman bill in the winter session, but Hazare has declared that he won't call off the fast till the bill is passed.
(With agency inputs)