Team Anna sheds anti-Congress posture

In a complete volté-face, Team Anna has decided not to target any political party in the ensuing assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and four other states. This was announced by the team’s core committee member Arvind Kejriwal, on Tuesday at the anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare’s village, Ralegan Siddhi.

Instead of launching a negative campaign, Team Anna will campaign on three broad-based issues — the differences between the Jan Lokpal proposal and the Lokpal Bill introduced in parliament, the silence of most political parties on the setting up of a strong Lokayukta set-up and the need to increase people’s participation in the present day democratic set up.

Kejriwal, along with other team members, Kumar Vishwas and Prashant Bhushan, were in the village for urgent talks with the crusader who is recuperating after his recent hospitalisation for weakness and other ailments.

Speaking to the media, Kejriwal said, “It was decided in our core committee meeting in New Delhi, on Monday, that we should campaign in the five states, facing the polls, but we would not target any political party. We had come to meet Anna and to apprise him of the decision, which he endorsed,” he said.

This marks a complete U-turn in the team’s earlier stance, which had singled out the ruling Congress party for its failure to bring a strong anti-corruption bill in the centre.  During his fast for a strong Lokpal Bill, Hazare had announced his decision to campaign against the party in the five states which are to face the polls in the next two months and also in the general elections scheduled to be held in the next two years.

Justifying their change of stance, Kejriwal stated that the absence of a clear alternative in terms of a non-corrupt political party had compelled them to change their strategy. “In today’s scenario, corruption has become endemic to a majority of the political parties and thus, when people asked us for an alternative to the Congress, we were not able to present the same,” he said.

According to Kejriwal, Team Anna members will tour the poll-bound states on the above agenda. “Anna is still physically weak, and it would not be possible for him to go on the trail. He would take a final decision about his future course of action, once he recovers his strength,” he said.

Noted Supreme Court advocate Bhushan, will conduct a meeting in the national capital on January 26 to discuss the various ways and methods to strengthen the “republic set-up in the country as, in the present day scenario, the common man is kept out of most of the decision making process.”