Hazare admits rift in anti-corruption movement

IANS

Pune, 18 Sep 2012: Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare Tuesday admitted to differences with Arvind Kejriwal and other members of the India Against Corruption (IAC) group on various issues.

The 75-year old Hazare reiterated that he would not launch a political party to fight corruption.

"However, Kejriwal is free to launch a political party if he wants," Hazare told the media, emerging from a meeting with a few prominent social workers in Pune.

Asked if he would support candidates put up by Kejriwal’s party, Hazare said: "Our destination is common, only the paths are different."

Hazare announced he would soon embark on a nationwide tour to create awareness on corruption and revive the anti-graft movement which has been floundering in recent months.

Indicating a growing rift within the anti-corruption movement he launched nearly two years ago, Hazare has cast his net wide to include prominent personalities with a clean image to join or advise his campaign.

Of the 35 top social personalities he has invited, he had meetings with half a dozen Tuesday in Pune. He will meet more people in New Delhi Wednesday.

Some of them are Prakash Amte, Abhay Bang, Girish Prabhune, Suniti S.R., Medha Patkar, Vishwambhar Choudhary, Surekha Dalwi, Ulka Mahajan, Bhau Torsekar, Narendra Dabholkar, Jaywant Matkar and Avinash Dharmadhikari.

While many have responded positively to the invitation, a few have cited prior commitments to keep away from Hazare for now.

Hazare’s declaration that he would neither contest elections nor form a political party effectively threw cold water on a ’referendum’ by IAC, the results of which were released Monday.

According to IAC, its week-long survey attracted 737,041 respondents of whom 561,701 (76 percent) favoured a political party while the rest were against the idea.