We are united, says Team Anna

Ralegan Siddhi: Against the backdrop of controversies surrounding them, Team Anna core committee members - Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Prashant Bhushan - met Anna Hazare in his village Ralegan Siddhi today. Emerging after the six-hour-long meeting to apprise Anna about the deliberations at the Core Committee meeting held yesterday, the team members said they were united.

"Some people want to break the team, but the team is strong and no one can break it. If we leave the battle because of these small allegations, people will stop believing in us," said Mr Kejriwal.

The three members also said the team does not have any political links with any party. This comes on a day, when Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh fired a fresh salvo on what he calls Anna's links with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

"Baba Ramdev is being more honest about the support of RSS to their campaign. Haven't understood why Anna is denying. Ungrateful?" Mr Singh wrote on the microblogging site Twitter.

While the Congress has been charging again and again that the RSS has been behind the Anna movement, Team Anna clarified it yet again that it has become a government policy to link anyone anti-corruption with the RSS.

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"There are so many people who supported us...and there may be people from BJP and RSS also. So what?" questioned Ms Bedi.

Given the recent controversies, the meeting with Anna also decided on framing a constitution for the core committee members that will also have penal provisions.

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This was the first meeting the trio had with Anna after the various allegations made against each of them. Mr Kejriwal has been accused of depositing donations for the Hazare agitation in a trust run by him, while Ms Bedi has drawn ire for allegedly overcharging her hosts by inflating travel bills. Mr Bhushan has been attacked by right-wing activists for advocating a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir.

In the case of Mr Bhushan, Anna Hazare came out in public to denounce his view on Jammu and Kashmir. But the veteran Gandhian has so far supported Ms Bedi and Mr Kejriwal saying a "gang of four" in the ruling Congress have been behind the allegations.