Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Monday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had piggybacked on anti-graft activist Anna Hazare’s Jan Lokpal movement.

“I have urged Anna not to put his life in danger for this apathetic government. This [BJP-led NDA] is a government of liars and the biggest liar is Mr. Modi. It has not the slightest sensitivity to whether Anna lives or dies,” Mr. Raj Thackeray said. He and other MNS leaders visited the activist in Ralegan Siddhi in Ahmednagar as his indefinite hunger strike over the Centre’s failure to appoint a Lokpal entered the sixth day on Monday.

“It is only because of Mr. Hazare’s agitation for the Lokpal and Lokayuktas that Mr. Modi and Mr. Kejriwal are in power. They have used Anna and then conveniently jettisoned him. Who had heard of Mr. Kejriwal before? But today he does not even bother to visit Anna or ask after his health,” said the MNS chief. He said that Mr. Modi had tweeted on December 18, 2013, about the need to implement the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act. “After five years in power, the Modi government has done nothing,” he said.

Mr. Raj Thackeray had a half-hour talk with Mr. Hazare inside the Yadavbaba Temple, where the activist is on his hunger strike, and requested him to end the strike in view of his steadily deteriorating health. “I have requested [Mr. Hazare] to instead tour the State with me to bury this [BJP] government,” he said.

He said that Mr. Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah were subverting the autonomy of every institution in the country, but in the upcoming general election, it would be the people versus the duo. “The pressure that is being exerted on bodies — from the RBI to the CBI — to toe the BJP’s line is deplorable. A CBI Director was dismissed in a cavalier fashion and two RBI Governors have resignedas they would not conform. The blame lies only the PM and his arrogance,” Mr. Raj Thackeray said.

Water activist Rajendra Singh, too, met Mr. Hazare. He was worried about the Centre’s apathy as in the case of environmentalist G.D. Agarwal, who died last year after an indefinite hunger strike in Haridwar over the government’s inadequate efforts to clean the Ganga river.

Meanwhile, The Shiv Sena also lent support to the activist. “The people have been administered an anaesthetic by the Modi government and they need to be brought out of their slumber. Mr. Hazare should give up his fast and lead an agitation over his demand. I assure him the Sena’s support,” said party president Uddhav Thackeray, in a statement.

Opposition leaders, too, flocked to meet Mr. Hazare since he commenced his fast on January 30. Senior Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil met Mr. Hazare on Sunday. “The present government, which rode on the wave of Mr. Hazare’s Lokpal agitation, has now completely forgotten him,” he said.