Anna Hazare denies reports of rift with Arvind Kejriwal

Asserting that it was time to fight a joint movement against corruption, veteran social activist Anna Hazare on Monday rubbished reports of a rift between him and RTI crusader Arvind Kejriwal, saying this was all hype created by the media.

Hazare said that there was no reality in the reports, and added that he has a meeting with Kejriwal and others on Tuesday.

"There is no reality behind these reports. We have a meeting tomorrow and all these speculations are all by the media," said Hazare.

"Be it Arvind Kejriwal or anyone else who is fighting against corruption, the time has come to be united and fight this war. If we all fight against graft separately, then the same policy of divide and rule applied by the British will be used again," he added.

Meanwhile, Kejriwal today said that 76% of the people, who were surveyed, were in favour of Team Anna forming a political party.

"About a week back, Anna had asked us to do a survey in the public to know the public mood, whether public really wants Team Anna to form a political party or not. So, last one week, we have been doing this survey," said Kejriwal.

"The survey was done through SMS, website, e-mail, Facebook and also door-to-door survey was carried out in some cities and villages. The results are there before me. On SMS, we received five lakh 93,648 responses. 74 percent people have said that Team Anna should form a political party," he added.

Kejriwal further said that Hazare would be in the national capital to take his anti-graft movement forward, and added that the team members would decide the future course of action.

"Total, we have received seven lakh 37,041 responses and 76% overall have said that Team Anna should form a political party. We will convey these results to Anna Hazare. Tomorrow, Anna is coming to Delhi and day after tomorrow; we would be meeting very eminent people, about 40-45 people. He would have daylong discussions with them and he is going to ask them what should be the next course of action," said Kejriwal.

"If they continue doing the movement like this, should it be just the movement or should this movement now also take a political journey? Should it provide a political alternative? If it should provide a political alternative, what kind of political alternative should it be? Should we only support independent, good candidates? Should a political party be formed?" he added.

Hazare had earlier said he would never contest elections

Denying his foray into politics, Hazare had earlier said that the people of this country would have the discretion to decide whether he should form a political party or not.

"I will not contest election even if people of the country give us permission to form a party. I have decided this that I will never form a political party and will never fight in elections," he said.

Hazare and his aides have been at loggerheads with the Congress led-United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government for the enactment of a strong Lokpal Bill.