Referring to the renewed allegations of social crusader Anna Hazare, Gholap told The Indian Express here today that he was accountable to Thackeray and nobody else. He added that he would meet the Sena chief and talk to him on the issue.

Gholap is on a tour of the rural areas of his constituency, Devlali. This trip is seen in political circles as a damage-control measure after Hazare reiterated his corruption charges against the Welfare Minister after an obviously shaken State Government remitted the former's sentence in the defamation case filed by Gholap.

``The Anna Hazare-led ``Bhrastachar Virodhi Jan Andolan'' (which has launched an agitation seeking the declaration of assets of elected representatives) has no right to prod into details of my income,'' averredGholap.

Gholap alleged Hazare was being fed wrong information by some opponents desiring to spoil his image in the Devlali constituency in view of the next assembly elections.

Though Gholap was quick to clarify that by ``opponents'' he meant members of ``other parties'' and that ``nobody within the Sena'' had any grouse against him.

Again, Gholap charged the trustees of Hazare's Andolan of contempt of court for having reiterated the allegations against him publicly at a morcha on Friday. He said the court had delivered its verdict on the defamation case filed by Hazare and that any public comment or criticism amounted to the contempt of court. He said that he would bring the issue to the court's notice to stop the smear campaign launched against him.

He, however, maintained that he was willing to explain his sources of income privately to a person sent by the social activist.

Coming to his jaunt through the rural areas in Devlali, Gholap lamented that his becoming minister in 1995 left him withlittle time to interact with the populace in his constituency.

The Social Welfare Minister said that he had initiated construction of classrooms, roads and water supply projects worth Rs 4 crore this year in his constituency and was here to talk to the villagers about their wants further.