Ex-Army chief backs Anna, may join politics
New Delhi, Aug 3, 2012, DHNS:
Team Anna declares agenda for 2014 LS polls
In a move that indicates that former army chief V K Singh may plunge into politics, he supported Team Anna’s announcement to form a political party on Friday. Singh, who had a running battle with the government over his age, was also instrumental in persuading Team Anna to end fast.
Singh along with 21 other eminent citizens had appealed to Team Anna members on Thursday to give up fast and work for a `political alternative’. On July 31, he had participated in an agitation at Fatehabad in Haryana to oppose the Gorakhpur nuclear plant in the state.
His address at the Jantar Mantar gathering was the first public appearance of Singh in the national capital since his retirement from the Army on May 31. Singh spoke to Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal and broke the news of formation of political party.
“We are directionless, we need political alternative,” Singh, who offered a glass of water to Anna Hazare to break his six-day long fast, said as he compared the present political situation to that of 1975 when Emergency was clamped.
As the Team Anna ended the fast, it also declared a broad agenda for 2104 Lok Sabha elections which, in addition to passage of anti-corruption Lokpal Bill, would contain massive electoral reforms and decentralization of power.
Defending the decision to jump into electoral politics, Anna Hazare said that the Union Government was “challenging us to contest elections, come to Parliament and pass the Lokpal Bill. We have decided to accept the challenge and they feel threatened.”
The Team Anna appeared hesitant in describing the nature of political party they wish to form. However, Arvind Kejriwal asked people to suggest a name for it and elaborated upon a broad agenda of secular, incorruptible and decentralized governance.
Kejriwal declared passage of the Lokpal Bill, provision of Right to Recall and Right to Reject in election laws and power to village council as the immediate goals for fighting elections. “We will enter Parliament to decentralize its power,” said Kejriwal.
Gopal Rai, Manish Sisodia and others said that the proposed political party would be such that it would not be governed by any high command and people would select candidates and decide issues.
