Amid reports that Anna Hazare was against forming a political party,speculations are rife that Team Anna will test political waters first in nextyear's Delhi Assembly polls, before taking a plunge in the 2014 Generalelections. Sources say that they will give a miss to elections in HimachalPradesh and Gujarat.
Core members of the now disbanded Team Anna are meeting at Prashant Bhushan'sresidence to decide on their politcal future. This, amid reports suggestingthat anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare was reluctant to be associated with apolitical party. Dismissing speculations, Arvind Kejriwal said that there wasno rift within the group. He said that propaganda machinery was workingovertime to create differences between Anna and them.
Team member Kiran Bedi tweeted, "Anna has said this before... Both theoptions are open..Those who are ready to form political party can go ahead withthe option & those who feel movement is fine, can go ahead with themovement. There is no confusion & conflict...I think the country needs bothoption."
Sources in India Against Corruption (IAC) said a large number of volunteers ina meeting on Saturday pitched in for fighting the Delhi Assembly electionsfirst.
This could mean the activists, who decided to turn their anti-graft movementinto a political one, will give a miss to assembly elections in HimachalPradesh and Gujarat.
The sources said the volunteers raised the demand at a meeting on Saturdayattended by Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Gopal Rai among others.
Kejriwal told volunteers that their first focus will be on Congress-ruledDelhi. He also asked volunteers to start working in all the 70 constituenciesin Delhi, they said.
The decision early this month to take a political plunge had created a rift inthe Team Anna with a section of members like Santosh Hegde opposing it.
There were also claims from a section of the team that Hazare was not keen totake a political plunge but was forced by some of his colleagues, an allegationdenied by Kejriwal.
Though it had made clear its intention to have a shot at power in the 2014 LokSabha elections on an anti-corruption plank, Team Anna had not talked aboutcontesting the Assembly elections slated this year-end.
Anna Hazare and his team have been targeting the UPA government on Lokpal issuefor the past 16 months but were earlier undecided whether they would target theBJP governments in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh this year-end and Karnatakanext year by contesting elections there.
Team Anna had talked about a political alternative which they had claimed willbe people-centric.
Defending its decision to go political, Team Anna had said their numerousprotests and fasts did not yield any result as the government stonewalled theirdemands and showed little interest in bringing those guilty of big scams tobook.
Team Anna on Sunday claimed that the decision to turn the anti-corruptionmovement political was Anna Hazare's and a "malicious" campaign hasbeen working overtime to drive a wedge between them and the 74-year-old socialactivist.
Breaking his silence over claims by a section of Team Anna members that Hazarewas against forming a political party, activist Arvind Kejriwal alleged a"propaganda machinery" was working overtime to "drivewedge" between Hazare and other activists.
"A malicious campaign is being run that Anna is against political partyand that Team thrust it on Anna. Truth is it was Anna's decision,"Kejriwal tweeted on Sunday morning.
(With additional inputs from PTI)