Jaunpur:
As the Congress-led UPA tries to cobble together an acceptable response to Anna Hazare's Jan Lokpal demands, comes yet another yatra that is expected to take on the issue of corruption. This time it's battleground Uttar Pradesh as spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar embarks on a series of Satsangs in the poll-bound state starting from Jaunpur.
The tone of the campaign seems to be in line with Anna's anti-corruption agitation that has taken the country by storm over the past few months.Sri Sri has said he has been asking people to take a vow - not to take bribes, not to give bribes.
Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh had described the spiritual guru as Plan C of the BJP-RSS combine, after Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev, prompting Sri Sri to invite the politician to join his Art of Living course. The next few days could well see another war of words between the two.
Though many see this as an anti-corruption yatra in line with team Anna's agitation and Ramdev's Yatra, his close aides say that the yatra does not have a singular agenda and is actually a part of his ongoing nationwide yatra that has already crossed 14 states including Gujarat last month.
It may not have the intensity of Team Anna's campaign against the Congress in the Hisar by-elections, at least in the initial stages. However, the fact that the spiritual guru actively supported Anna's anti-corruption agitation in Delhi in August and subsequent Ramdev yatras on the same issue makes it yet another yatra to watch out for.
The spiritual guru has maintained that he had seven issues to speak about, hinting that his campaign was not confined to corruption alone. Few will, however, miss the significance of the yatra, coming as it does on the heels of Team Anna's resolve to campaign against corruption in states going to polls.