Team Anna to meet at Ralegan to plan future strategies
The core committee of Team Anna will begin its two-day meeting at his native village of Ralegan Siddhi on Saturday to devise a strategy for passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill in Parliament., in the first formal engagement after the anti-graft crusader's fast last month. The meeting is
being held in the backdrop of Hazare making public his displeasure over the government "targeting" his team members. Bedi, Bhushan and Kejriwal have been served breach of privilege notices and Kejriwal has also been slapped with Income Tax notice.
The 22 member core group will, among other things, also discuss the issue of electoral reforms after Hazare's call for voters right to "reject and recall", according to sources close to the Gandhian.
However, conspicuous by his absence will be Swami Agnivesh, a prominent member of the core group, who parted ways after circulation of a CD, which showed him purportedly talking to Union minister Kapil Sibal and telling him to act tough with Hazare, they said.
Crying "betrayal," Agnivesh had accused certain members of Team Anna of "conspiring" against him and said the "vicious" campaign was aimed at destroying his credibility.
A key member of the group and former IPS officer Kiran Bedi, who addressed a gathering of students at a Pune college on Friday, confirmed that the Swami would not attend the meeting.
"He would speak for himself," she told reporters when they sought more information about Agnivesh whom she had dubbed as a "government mole" in the anti-corruption movement after the CD leak.
The meeting, sources said, would also discuss ways to further mobilise public opinion in favour of the Jan Lokpal Bill to make it an instrument for achieving the goal of a "corruption-free" India.