Ashish Tripathi TNN
Lucknow: Even as it is still grappling with the Kashmir plebiscite controversy, Team Anna got embroiled in a fresh crisis on Tuesday as Gandhian P V Rajagopal and Magsaysay award winner Rajinder Singh quit from its core committee protesting its involvement in the Hisar byelection.
While Singh told TOI that his delayed reaction was due to his absence from the country during Team Anna’s campaign against Congress in the by-election, Rajagopal was not available to comment although he is reported to have quit on similar grounds.
“The moral authority of the movement was in its apolitical nature,” Singh said, adding that some members nevertheless decided to campaign against Congress without consulting the rest of the team. “It was wrong for an anti-corruption movement to take a stand for or against a political party in an election.”
Cracks in Team Anna first appeared during the Ramlila fast when Swami Agnivesh was forced to leave after a sting operation showed him speaking against it. The exit of Singh and Rajagopal follows the reservations expressed by Justice Santosh Hegde, another Team Anna member, over the anti-Congress campaign in Hisar without waiting for the agreed deadline of the winter session for the passage of the Bill. In his blog on Tuesday, Hazare took a swipe at key team member Prashant Bhushan who had been recently assaulted for advocating plebiscite in Kashmir. “This is my active conviction that Kashmir is an integral part of India and will remain so. Today once again if I have to, I am ready to take part in war against Pakistan. But some people can only speak and don’t do anything on ground in reality for Kashmir and this is unfortunate.”
But, speaking for India Against Corruption, core group member Manish Sisodia denied allegations that the decision concerning Hisar was taken without consulting all members of Team Anna. According to Sisodia, “Since Singh and Rajagopal had expressed their desire to quit active participation in the committee meetings because of their other engagements, their accusation on Tuesday have come as a shock to me.”
Echoing Sisodia’s position, Kumar Vishwas, also a core committee member, said “the cause is important and not individuals”. The movement will carry on, he declared. Sisodia and Vishwas were accompanying Arvind Kejriwal on a five-day UP tour exhorting people to pressure their MPs to vote in favour of a strong Lokpal in the winter session of Parliament. They maintained that Team Anna was not against any party but was mounting pressure on the Congress because it was in power at the Centre and in a position to enact the required legislation.
Sisodia also hinted at the possibility of a conspiracy to divide' Team Anna. “Some politicians have been engaged in trying to break our unity and destabilize the movement. However, even if some people have resigned, the movement will continue till as long as ordinary people are taking part in it.”
Man throws slipper at Kejriwal
A35-year-old man threw a slipper at Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal at Jhulelal Park in Lucknow on Tuesday evening. A few days back, another Team Anna member Prashant Bhushan was attacked inside his Supreme Court chamber in New Delhi. Kejriwal was about to address a gathering when the incident took place. The slipper missed him narrowly. Kejriwal said he had pardoned the man and asked the police not to register any case against him. TNN
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