Anna softens stand, Kejriwal to announce party today

Most of IAC members to be present at launch

With Anna Hazare on the other side of anti-graft movement, Arvind Kejirwal and Prashant Bhushan will be announcing their political party on Tuesday. Kejriwal met Hazare on Monday and got indirect approval of his reluctant mentor for going political.

 
Kejriwal will announce a vision document, constitution and names of important members of the proposed party. This vision document will be revised after receiving feedback from the people. The formal launching of the party would be done on November 26.

“Most of the members of the Core Committee of India Against Corruption (now disbanded) including Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan, Shanti Bhushan, Manish Sisodia, Kumar Vishwas and Sanjay Singh will be present on the eve of this announcement,” spokesperson  Ashwathi Murlidharan told Deccan Herald.

Intense discussion

According to sources, name of the party may not be announced on Tuesday. It is also being debated whether to have a federal structure like Indian National Congress of pre-independence days to allow groups from different movements to retain their identity.

On the other side of the anti-graft spectrum, Anna,  after two days of intense discussion with ‘anti-politics’ group of anti-graft activists, retired bureaucrats and ex-servicemen decided to go cautiously on selecting a new team to pursue the struggle for Jan-lokpal, electoral reforms and decentralisation of power.

He decided to tour across the country, organise camps, train volunteers at Ralegaon Siddhi before recruiting them.After meeting Anna, Kejriwal denied any rift with his leader and blamed media for creating one. He asserted that they have the same goal but different paths. He also clarified that Anna would not be joining his political party.

 "He has already said that he will not be part of it as he thinks politics is not the right direction," he said. However, he expressed full support to Anna. Anna also reciprocated, “There are no differences with Arvind and I have not stopped anyone from contesting elections. I will support him if he contests elections since I know his past very well.”

He suggested Kejriwal should contest from Chandni Chowk in Delhi against Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, who represents the constituency. He attacked Sibal for playing a negative role during deliberations of Joint Committee on Lokpal.

However, Anna clarified he cannot take responsibility of other candidates from Kejriwal’s party.