Anna Hazare Has Some Bitter Medicine for Arvind Kejriwal

Hours before he met Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, activist Anna Hazare today said much that was critical of his former apprentice - pointing to the troubles his Aam Aadmi Party is facing.

But later, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said they had a good meeting, during which they briefed Mr Hazare about the the Delhi government's face-off with the Narendra Modi government over, among other things, the control of the anti-corruption department.

Mr Hazare  - who was in Delhi to attend a rally of former servicemen against the non-implementation of the One Rank One Pension scheme - had criticised in strong terms the party's move to expel founder members Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan following a bitter public acrimony.

These former members, he said, had been working for his India Against Corruption movement and Mr Kejriwal's party for a long time and they "shouldn't have been plucked out and removed like that". "The work that you've done for so many years, should come first instead of pettiness."

Mr Hazare even indicated that his former apprentice had ignored his advice on carefully picking the people he inducted in the Aam Aadmi Party.  

"I told him that once he starts a party, he should choose people who are well qualified and have something substantial and meaningful to say and do... It shows, with what's been happening in the party... that he didn't think this through," Mr Hazare said.

The Gandhian, who is in his 80s, even said when he wrote to Mr Kejriwal pointing out these issues, he had ignored the letters.

Later in the evening, he met Mr Kejriwal and his deputy, Mr Sisodia, at the Maharashtra Sadan. After the meeting, though Mr Kejriwal left without speaking to the media, Mr Sisodia said they have "briefed him about the good work that is going on in Delhi".

"Anti-corruption is the main focus of Annaji's agitation and he has spent his whole life," Mr Sisodia said. He added that they had informed Mr Hazare about the Narendra Modi government was hampering its work by "taking the anti-corruption branch in its grip".