New Delhi:
With his team marred by controversies over a disgruntled member allegedly leaking information and a reported rift within over the tie-up with Baba Ramdev, veteran activist Anna Hazare today said that a thorough check would be conducted on all members to prevent internal discussions from becoming public in the future.
The 74-year-old Gandhian's comments came after a day of bitter acrimony and drama after a member of his team, Mufti Shamoon Qasmi, walked out amidst allegations of secretly recording proceedings of the core committee meeting in Noida on Sunday.
"Will be alert now to ensure that internal talks are not leaked...will even do checks of all members...There are some people who behave in this way. He was found texting somebody outside when the meeting was on. Our people caught him," Mr Hazare said on his arrival in Pune. He flew out of the national capital today after wrapping up the controversial core committee meeting and is headed to his hometown in Ralegan Siddhi.
After storming out of the meeting, Mr Qasmi had told the media that he wasn't being heard and hence, deemed it appropriate to walk out. However, other members of Team Anna said that Mr Qasmi was found secretly recording proceedings of the meeting which they said was not the right thing to do.
"Information was being leaked out. We realised a lot of what was happening was being fed to the media. A member saw that the meeting was being recorded and asked him to stop recording and leave," said Kiran Bedi, a member of Team Anna.
(Read)The group of social activists has also been battling reports of a growing resentment within the team over Mr Hazare's decision to ally with Mr Ramdev for a joint rally on June 3 in New Delhi. Sources within the team had told NDTV that certain core members of Team Anna were unhappy and claimed to have not been informed about this tie-up either by the Gandhian or Mr Ramdev. The septuagenarian, though, categorically dismissed all talks of differences over the issue. The Gandhian said that he would not be touring the country with Mr Ramdev, but added that he did not rule out sharing the stage with the yoga guru at a later stage.
"There is no gap in the one-and-a-half-month tour that I am going on. I told you before that we are not going to be touring together. But we are fighting for the same purpose of getting back black money and the Lokpal and the Lokayukta bills. We shall stand together and there is no change on that. After my Maharashtra trip, when we go together, it is possible that we will be on the stage together," Mr Hazare said.
But, as the veteran anti-graft crusader denied all talks of a rift over the issue, Shanti Bhushan, a key member of his team, said that they did not share any "common platform" with the yoga guru. "We have begun a movement against corruption and on that pretext, Baba Ramdev supports us but we have no common platform or any common consensus on it but we have common concerns regarding these issues and these issues are common concerns about the country," Mr Bhushan said.
Mr Hazare and Mr Ramdev had addressed a press conference in Gurgaon on Friday, announcing the proposed fast. They had said that they would share the stage in the future on various issues like the Jan Lokpal Bill and black money. They have applied for a permission to hold the fast at Jantar Mantar in Delhi - a venue where Mr Hazare has held quite a few protests since last year.
While confirming that the fast - led by the two activists - would happen as scheduled, Kiran Bedi, another prominent member of Team Anna, sought to play down the controversy. "As I understand, the cause is common. Cause is fight against corruption and Baba Ramdev is not contradicting it. How you approach this together is situational. You are seeing coming together of civil society again," Ms Bedi said.