Team Anna member Kiran Bedi on Sunday likened Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the blind king Dhritarashtra of the epic Mahabharata to attack him on the issue of corruption, prompting Government to slam the group for turning their fight into a "personal campaign".
The Bharatiya Janata Party also waded into the war of words supporting Team Anna's demand for a probe into the allegations of corruption against the United Progressive Alliance government, saying it is natural that the "taint" reaches Singh though he is honest as he is the leader.
"The Prime Minister's Office clears the PM. Did Dhritarashtra in Mahabharata not support Kauravas even after they attempted to disrobe Draupadi? Indian genes/culture? Or?," Bedi tweeted.
She said Team Anna is focussed on the party in power at the Centre because it alone can give an effective central law not opposition.
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'We all felt they started off with a good idea'
"Do or Die fast from July 25 for SIT probe on PM+14 Cab Ministers. Tainted team may never give us an expeditious and strong criminal justice system," she alleged, a day after she termed the PMO letter as "absolutely wishy-washy".
Later in the day, Bedi in her tweets quoted from C Rajagopalachari's Mahabharata in which Dhritarashtra is saying "I did not follow the wise path of Dharma and statesmanship but suffered myself to be misled by my foolish son. And as you say, we are fast hastening towards the abyss."
Reacting to Bedi's tweets, Khurshid said "we all felt they started off with a good idea. Idea of containing corruption and questioning corruption was a good idea.
But on Sunday, he said that they are doing greatest disservice to this idea by converting it into a personal campaign and personal ambition.
"I will quite confidently say that the country will give them a suitable answer when the time comes," he said.
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'Hazare surrounded by anti-national elements'
The flare-up came a day after Prime Minister's Office rejected Anna Hazare's demands for setting up a SIT for probing corruption allegations against Singh and his 14 Cabinet colleagues and setting up a fast track court to take up corruption cases against members of Parliament.
Minister of State (PMO) V Narayanaswamy on Saturday alleged that Hazare was surrounded by "anti-national elements" and supported by "foreign forces".
The civil society members must first answer the questions of irregularities committed by them, Khurshid said adding he did not think the members of the Team Anna "are being very helpful and very good to democracy in our country."
Alleging that the Team Anna members have never asked for a probe against themselves, he said, "We are at least subject to public scrutiny. Every five years we go through an election. People reject or accept our record and everything is there available and we are willing for any public scrutiny".
"There are many questions they must first answer. I don't think they have the right to ask questions and I don't think they are being very helpful and very good to democracy in our country," he said.
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'This war should end'
He said the government has its own methods of keeping a check on what is happening in the country but he has not heard Team Anna ever having said they are willing for a probe.
He asked the civil Society members what they have done or what they are doing and alleged that Team Anna members are "screaming and shouting" in an attempt to beat the government.
Demanding probe into the allegations against the ministers, BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, "Nobody suspects Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. But the way in which his government is drowned in corruption and scams. So it is natural that the taint reaches him also. It is unfortunate but it will happen."
"...This war of words between civil society and government should end. The government should order an investigation," he said.
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