Anna says core group committee will be revamped after all

Ralegan-Siddhi (Maharashtra): Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare has announced that his core committee will be dissolved and reformed. The committee currently has 26 members; they decide policy and plans of action for the India Against Corruption campaign.

"Some people had objected to the manner of the Committee's selection", said Anna today. He ended a 20-day vow of silence or maun vrat on Friday. He said the new committee will include representatives from "all sections of society" including Muslims, Dalits and tribals. "Even youth will be well represented," the 74-year-old Gandhian said. "Youths from different communities will be picked for the Committee."

After a meeting of the core committee on October 29 in Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, seen as Anna's closest aide, had said there was no question of the group being revamped.  

Team Anna, as the Gandhian and his closest aides are known, has been mangled recently by a slew of controversies, some of them related to alleged financial malpractices. Kiran Bedi, an inner circle member of Anna's movement, was found to have inflated travel expenses to companies who invited her as a guest speaker - she billed for business class travel, but flew economy. The difference, she said, was used to help her NGO. Mr Kejriwal was accused of funneling 80 lakhs worth of donations from Anna's movement to Public Cause Research Foundation (PCRF), which counts Mr Kejriwal as a trustee. An audit posted last week on the website of PCRF declared how the donations - worth nearly three crores - have been spent.

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Anna and his activists say they are being targeted by those in positions of power for unleashing a potent campaign against graft.  "Whoever wants to conduct an inquiry can do so. If we all (Team Anna) are together, then there's no need to worry. Not once, but you can hold an inquiry four times over...All those who are about to lose power and are threatened by our movement will obviously not like us and will try to break our unity", Mr Hazare said.

Two members of the core committee quit recently, expressing their opposition to what they describe as Team Anna's confluence with politics. Rajendra Singh and P V Rajagopal quit the committee last month. They said Anna's representatives should not have campaigned against the Congress in the recent Lok Sabha election in Hisar in Haryana. Mr Yadav faulted Mr Kejriwal and Ms Bedi for arrogance and disregard of the opinions of other core committee members.

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Another committee member, Kumar Biswas, wrote to Anna recently asking him to disband the committee. Like prominent social activist Medha Patkar, he alleged that the committee is being targeted for its agenda, and needs to be revamped to form a stronger line of defence against those bent on discrediting the motives and credibility of Team Anna.