Elect honest candidates put up by Arvind Kejriwal, says Anna Hazare

Social worker and anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare on Tuesday announced that he would not form or be part of any political party and continue to fight against corruption. By accepting that there was a rift within Team Anna on the issue of floating a political party, Anna said he would only support candidates with character fielded by ex-Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal’s party.

Anna on Tuesday met activists, including environmentalist Madhav Gadgil, Sarvoday Seva Sangh leader Jaywant Mathkar, Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti founder Dr Narendra Dabholkar, Yuvak Kranti Dal leader and organic farming propagator Vasudha Sardar, former bureaucrat Avinash Dharmadhikari and Bhau Torsekar. Anna’s aide Vishwambhar Choudhari was present at the meeting, which explored possibilities of forming a  nationwide anti-corruption movement.

After the meeting, Anna said, “We convened this meeting to understand the views of experts before taking a decision. If Kejriwal forms a political party, we would support good, honest candidates. We will take the people’s movement against corruption to every corner of the country and ask them to elect candidates with character for the political framework of the country to improve. We will not support candidates from any party other than Kejriwal’s. We will be pressing for the Jan Lokpal bill and push for people’s right to reject and right to recall a representative if found to be corrupt.”

About Kejriwal’s decision to launch a political party, Anna said, “It would result in a rift, though that hardly matters. A rift only means he has chosen a different path. However, the final goal of making India corruption-free is the same. We will support men of character to become elected representatives and will support such candidates if Kejriwal fields them.”

After the meeting, Anna left for Delhi. Aide Vishwambhar Choudhari stated that Arvind Kejriwal will not stick to his decision of forming a political party if Anna insists against it. Choudhari said, “Kejriwal has shown his willingness to scrap the thought of forming a political party, if Anna’s final decision is to keep away from it. The final decision in this regard will be taken only after Wednesday’s meeting in New Delhi."