JOIN USFormer Lokayukta and Team Anna member, N Santosh Hegde, on Monday said there was no split in the Anna Core Committee.
Playing down the developments following the expulsion of Mufti Shameem Kazmi from the core committee, Hegde said as far as he knew, there were some differences of opinion among the members and the same could not be termed a rift or split.
He said differences of opinion among leaders were there even during the freedom struggle.
Hegde was speaking after the launch of a book ‘Anna: 13 Days that awakened India,’ authored by journalist Ashutosh.
Kazmi was expelled after being accused of secretly recording proceedings of a core committee meeting. But he dismissed the charge and claimed he quit the group as it was turning "anti-Muslim". Hegde described the efforts to attach the communal tag to the Kazmi incident as "unfortunate".
Hegde said "differences" were bound to occur in such a vast movement. He said such differences indicated the democratic flavour of the team. Ultimately, decisions would be taken with consensus.
Hegde described the fight against corruption as a long one and said his generation had allowed corruption to happen in the last 60 years. “In 1988, it was the Bofors for Rs 63 crore. In 2010, it is Rs1.76 lakh crore in 2G," he said.
When questioned about yoga guru Ramdev coming on board and related issues, Hegde said whoever was willing to support the Anna movement should be taken in. He said if somebody was found to be in the wrong path, right decision should be taken at the right time to keep the movement clean.
Hegde said personally he favoured passage of the Lokpal bill, be it any form, in the Parliament session beginning Tuesday. "Let there be a bill. Then we can plug the loopholes in the days ahead,” he said. Hegde said the drafting of the Constitution took four and half years and it had witnessed more than 100 amendments.