Santosh Hegde deprecates black flag protests against PM in Amritsar

Former Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde on Sunday condemned the protest against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Amritsar and suggested that the agitation did not have the blessings of Anna Hazare.

Hegde, a member of Team Anna as well as the Joint Drafting Committee on Lokpal Bill, said the Prime Minister of a country should not be treated this way.

"I am against all this kind of demonstrations, be it the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition or even leaders like Anna (Hazare). Anna was also shown black flags in Chennai recently," he said.

"This is no way to treat the Prime Minister of a country or for that matter anybody whose leader who is leading a particular cause," he said.

Terming the incident of a group of people showing black flags to Singh in Amritsar this morning, he said: "A group of people who identify themselves with, I don't know whether Anna Hazare's supporters or otherwise should indulge in such demonstrations."

"I don't think Anna has (given) support nor permission to do that (protest)," he said.