Team covers up for new President

As soon as Pranab Mukherjee was sworn-in as Presdident, Team Anna members at the Jantar Mantar protest urged volunteers to cover up his photos on billboards at the venue.

Mukherjee’s picture was among those of 14 leaders – including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other ministers – that formed the backdrop of the dais. Team Anna wants these ministers probed for alleged graft.

Arvind Kejriwal, who led the Team Anna fast on Wednesday, alleged that the Congress has put a veil to protect the former finance minister.

“Mukherjee could not have become President if the Lokpal Bill had been passed. According to the Constitution, the President has immunity against any investigation.

We have given evidence against Mukherjee to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi two months ago,” he said. 

Within minutes, all photographs of former finance minister at the venue were covered with white paper and cloth.

The billboard had pictures of P Chidambaram, Sharad Pawar, S M Krishna, Kamal Nath, Praful Patel, Vilasrao Deshmukh, Virbhadra Singh, Kapil Sibal, Salman Kurshid, G K Vasan, Farooq Abdullah, M K Alagiri and Sushilkumar Shinde.

  A Team Anna member said they have lot of respect for the chair of the President, and that respect had to be maintained at any cost.