Govt calling Team Anna anti-national unjustified: BJP

Hitting out at the government for calling Team Anna members "anti-national", the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday said it is not right and unjustified to level such allegations against those critical of the policies of the United Progressive Alliance dispensation.

Reacting to comments of V Narayanasamy, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, that Team Anna members were anti-national, BJP President Nitin Gadkari said such terms should not be used.

"I feel calling somebody anti-national is not right. There can be differences of opinion between people in the country but calling somebody, who is agitating against the government, anti-national is not justified and is not right," he told the media on the sidelines of a programme in New Delhi.

Earlier in the day, Narayanasamy had told reporters at the Chennai airport, "Anna is a simple man but he is surrounded by anti-national elements and people who have been supported by foreign forces."

He criticised Team Anna members Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi and sought to know "what happened to the huge sum of money collected during last year's (anti-corruption) agitation". "Bedi herself was facing some allegations (over bloated travel receipts)," Narayanasamy said.

On allegations of irregularities in allocation of coal blocks, he said the Manmohan Singh-led government was "transparent".

"Our government is transparent. The prime minister wanted to have a transparent form of coal block allocation in 2004," the minister said.