All may not be okay with my trusts: Hazare

Social worker Anna Hazare on Wednesday admitted in Mumbai to 'irregularities' in the management of trusts run by him.

Hazare said audit reports of the trusts might not have been furnished to the charity commissioner, as alleged by Maharashtra Food and Civil Supplies Minister Suresh Jain.

Hazare had earlier accused Jain of being corrupt.

He blamed the trust's chartered accountant for failing to furnish the audit reports.

Asked about the CA's failure, Hazare said, "We never got a single notice from the commissioner's office for the lapse. All our audit reports are ready.

"It may be an irregularity, but was not done purposely and cannot be termed as corruption."

Later, he claimed that audit reports had been submitted and 'they can get misplaced'.

"The charges levelled against me is a brazen attempt to muzzle the right to agitate in a democracy and is government's ploy to derail my agitation against corruption from August 9," Hazare said.

The state home department had not given permission to stage an anticorruption agitation on the grounds of the historical August Kranti Maidan in Mumbai on August 9.

"He (Jain) is in the government. Instead of levelling charges to mislead people, why can't he initiate an inquiry against me or put me behind the bars," questioned Hazare.

The social worker said he had accepted Jain's challenge and both should undergo a Central Bureau of Investigation probe and file affidavit of their assets.

He also junked Jain's charge that his Hind Swaraj Trust got Rs 45 lakh from the Centre even before the trust was formed. He denied that the money was diverted to other projects.

Even the then chief minister Manohar Joshi had given a clean chit to the functioning of the trust, he said. "We will think about filing cases against Jain for levelling charges against me through affidavits," Hazare said.

He said Jain's statements were unbecoming of a minister.

Hazare said he had turned down Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde's invitation to resolve the matter through discussions.

"Unless the government passes the Right to Information bill, brings a legislation on transfers, provides more powers to gram sabhas and make efforts to reduce delay in administrative functioning, I will not speak to the chief minister," Hazare said.