Team Anna on Tuesday decided to desist from campaigning against any party in the five election-bound states, a decision apparently prompted by divisions within its fold over its strident anti-Congress stand.
“There was a consensus in the core committee meeting that we should tour all five poll-bound states but we should not campaign against any party. Anna Ji shares this view and we will not campaign against any particular party,” Mr Hazare’s aide, Mr Arvind Kejriwal, told reporters after meeting the ailing Gandhian.
Team Anna’s core committee had met in Delhi on Monday amid “confusion” on how to take the movement forward after a tepid public response to Mr Hazare’s fast in Mumbai against the “weak” Lokpal Bill brought by the Government in Parliament and criticism of their anti-Congress posture.
According to sources, a section in the team, including social activist Ms Medha Patkar and a few others, were against the movement solely targeting Congress on the Lokpal issue.
Key members of his team, including Mr Kejriwal and Mr Prashant Bhushan, met Mr Hazare to inquire about the 74-year-old Gandhian’s health after he was discharged from a Pune hospital recently and to communicate to him what transpired at the core committee meeting.
The Core Committee had decided to leave it to Mr Hazare to take a final call on its future strategy, including whether or not to target any single political party in polls.
Mr Kejriwal said Mr Hazare was still “very ill” and a decision on whether he would join other members of his team on the tour will be taken only after he has fully recovered.
However, the team would create public awareness in the five states about the Lokpal Bill.