File photo: Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal
Arvind Kejriwal is unwell and will not visit his one-time mentor Anna Hazare in his Ralegan Siddhi village in Maharashtra today. He has sent three party colleagues instead.
The Aam Aadmi Party or AAP chief tweeted this morning, "I wanted 2 go n meet Anna 2day but fell ill last nite. Running v high fever. But my heart is at ralegan (sic)."
Anna Hazare is on an indefinite hunger strike to demand that the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill be passed in the ongoing winter session of Parliament.
Last evening, Mr Kejriwal had said at a meeting of AAP leaders and volunteers, "We wholeheartedly support Anna Hazare and are with him physically, emotionally and financially. Tomorrow, I and Kumar Vishwas are going to Ralegan Siddhi. But, respecting his sentiment that he won't share dais with any political leaders, we would be sitting among the audience."
Mr Vishwas said this morning that doctors had advised Mr Kejriwal not to make the trip. "We would like to tell other parties don't underestimate Anna," Mr Vishwas said.
It was Mr Kejriwal's decision to launch a political party last year that had caused a rift between the tax commissioner-turned anti-graft activist and Anna. The 76-year-old Gandhian said he could not be associated with a political organisation.
In 2011, Anna and Mr Kejriwal engineered a huge anti-graft movement that electrified middle class India. The apogee of the campaign was a 16-day fast by Anna in Delhi which drew thousands of people every day, and impelled street protests in other cities.
Another close associate from that campaign, Kiran Bedi, has said she will join Anna's hunger strike on Saturday.
The Lokpal Bill that Anna wants introduced in Parliament this session is an amended version that will first have to be cleared by the Rajya Sabha and then the Lok Sabha. The government has promised to bring the Bill in this short, 12-day session but Parliament has not functioned in the three working days since it convened last week.