Team Anna may contest 2014 polls

New Delhi, 23 July 2012: Team Anna is seriously toying over the idea to contest elections in 2014 by floating a front under their leadership. According to sources, some Team Anna members are also thinking to jump in to the fray.

 

The structure and other details of the proposed front are yet to be decided, say the sources.

 

“Some Team Anna leaders including Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi have long been considering this option,” said an India Against Corruption(IAC)  insider. According to him, many activists of India Against Corruption has favoured the idea and they themselves are ready to take on political parties. Though the Team Anna members have been debating the issue extensively and engaged some of their core supporters among intellectuals, the issue is yet to come on the formal agenda.

 

The informed sources also say that many IAC activists have selected their constituencies and they are concentrating on these with “an eye on the Lok Sabha elections in 2014”. They say that one of the senior Team Anna members is considering to contest elections from Himachal Pradesh and another one from Haryana. And, the third one is thinking to chose a constituency from western Uttar Pradesh.

 

Unusual interest

Team Anna had shown its ‘unusual’ interest in the Lok Sabha by-election in Hisar, Haryana, but invited a criticism from its own supporters. The interest shown in Himachal Pradesh by the Team is also being linked with the electoral ambitions of the members.

 

According to sources, the team is yet to get a formal endorsement from Anna Hazare, their leader, who doesn’t seem to be opposed to the idea. “Though, he will not jump into the election battle, he will bless his followers,” says an insider. 

 

“Candidates will come out from among the people who are agitated with the existing political parties. A non-Congress, non-BJP front will emerge, and will comprise of  these candidates. Team Anna will support them,” said Kejriwal in an interview to a TV channel.

 

“If a good alternative emerges, I will support it. Anna will also support it. He will campaign too,” he added.