Hisar (Haryana), Oct 8 (IANS): Starting Team Anna's campaign against the Congress in the Hisar by-poll, Right to Information (RTI) activist Arvind Kejriwal said the government is afraid that half of its ministers will land up in jail if the Jan Lokpal bill, prepared by Anna Hazare and his team, becomes a law.

Addressing a gathering at Narnaund town of Hisar Lok Sabha constituency, Kejriwal sought support from the people of Hisar to vote against the Congress and others who indulged in corruption.

"The Congress party does not want to send corrupt people to jail. It does not want to take any action against them either. That is why they are opposed to the Jan Lokpal bill," he told a well-attended public gathering.

People in the gathering shouted slogans of support for Kejriwal and Team Anna as he listed various issues against corruption before them.

Kejriwal, who was accompanied by Hazare's associate Manish Sisodia, said: "The Congress is afraid that if the Jan Lokpal bill comes, half of its ministers will go to jail (for corruption). That is why the Congress is trying to portray that the Jan Lokpal bill as against the country."

Earlier in Rohtak town, Kejriwal told reporters that Anna Hazare's campaign against corruption was his own and not associated with any party or organisation.

He said that the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) could not take credit for Anna's anti-corruption campaign in recent months.

Armed with a recorded message of the social activist, members of Team Anna Saturday began their anti-corruption and anti-Congress campaign from here ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha bypoll.

The by-election to the Hisar seat, to be held Oct 13, was necessitated after former chief minister and sitting MP Bhajan Lal's death in June.

Hazare himself is not scheduled to come here for the campaign though his recorded message will be played for the people in the next 2-3 days, activists of the anti-corruption forum here said.

In his video message, Hazare has called upon voters not to vote for the Congress as the party was opposed to bringing about an effective Lokpal bill.

Former police officer Kiran Bedi and lawyer Prashant Bhushan are likely to visit here in the next couple of days.

The contest for this seat is tough for the three main players -- Kuldeep Bishnoi of the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) who is son of the late Bhajan Lal, Indian National Lok Dal's (INLD) Ajay Chautala who is son of former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, and three-time former MP Jai Prakash of the Congress.

Stakes are high for all three parties and their candidates. Hisar was the only seat the Congress could not win out of the state's 10 Lok Sabha seats in the 2009 general elections.