Hazare is on a five-week Maharashtra tour.

Hazare’s assistant Suresh Pathare said a group of people first threw stones and then shouted slogans in support of Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.

“However, the attack was on the vehicle that we used for sale of books. Nobody is hurt. Anna and other crew are safe. Do not worry,” he said.

Nagpur police, however, denied any information about the incident.

Earlier in the day, Hazare’s convoy was shown flack flags at some places.

Hazare began his Maharashtra tour from Shirdi May 1 to create awareness on the need for a strong lokayukta legislation in the state. His tour will end June 6.

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NAGPUR: As Anna Hazare arrived in the summer heat of Nagpur on Wednesday, he announced that his next big campaign would be against the Maharashtra government’s failure to tackle the water crisis. Speaking to reporters, the anti-graft crusader said, “After I finish my current tour, I will meet with chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and question him about the water crisis. I will also present evidence of corruption in that department.” Hazare said that if Chavan failed to take immediate action, he will again start a major campaign in the state against this.

Hazare said both drinking and irrigation water shortages are a direct result of the inefficiency of the government machinery. “We are spending so much money on various water projects but about 50% of them have come to a standstill. In our state, not even 12% of the land is irrigated and the government keeps on announcing new schemes. The same contractors are used all the time because politicians are involved with them to siphon off funds,” said Hazare.

He criticized the government’s “focus on dam projects” when self-sufficiency can be brought at the village level. “Make every village the centre of a new project where soil and water conservation will be taught and implemented. Digging borewells deep and hand pumps will go a long way to solve the problem, but unfortunately many of our projects are fraught with technical faults which make these hand pumps useless,” Hazare said.

The Gandhian addressed a 10,000-strong crowd at Chitnis Park in the evening and was at his acerbic best while taking pot shots at politicians. “The people of this country need a political alternative which can be trusted. Even if the current party goes, the others too will be like them. One has done graduation in corruption and the other will complete their doctorate. I will never start a political outfit but if the public chooses a consensus candidate, then I will certainly support them,” said the activist said.

He stressed on the need for a strong Lokpal Bill and the need for an independent Lokayukta at the state level. “We need to decentralize power in our country and Lokayukta will ensure that. Every state will have the Lokayukta machinery to deal with corruption cases, and it will have the power to send them to jail as well,” said Anna.

He further added, “If Lokpal had been implemented, then our home minister P Chidambaram would have been in jail. We see many scams that are being unearthed due to Right To Information (RTI) Act but it still has not reached its logical end. Hence, people need a stronger tool, like the Lokpal with a provision for Lokayukta, to root out corruption.”

Anna also said that changes in the electoral system are necessary for better governance. “Right To Reject should be an option for voters while casting their ballot, and if more than 50% exercise that option, elections should be cancelled. New polls with new candidates should be held and this will ensure that the bad elements are filtered out from the system,” said Anna. He, however, added that Right To Recall is a concept whose time is yet to come, but will nevertheless be an important tool for bringing electoral change.

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