Hazare's silence fuels unease over political future

A day after social activist Anna Hazare made a sudden announcement to dissolve his core committee, his colleagues continued to be elusive on Tuesday amid growing signs of unease in the team about the future course of action.

A day after social activist Anna Hazare made a sudden announcement to dissolve his core committee, his colleagues continued to be elusive on Tuesday amid growing signs of unease in the team about the future course of action.

Hazare, who returned to his village Ralegan Siddhi in Maharashtra, made no public appearance but did speak to yoga guru Baba Ramdev over the phone.

HT Image

The contents of the conversation were not known, but Ramdev is learnt to have requested Hazare to join his protest beginning in the capital from Thursday.

None of the former Team Anna members were willing to talk to the media on record on Tuesday, but they stressed that the decision to turn political, which has angered some of their colleagues, will eventually be accepted by all their prominent members.

They dismissed reports about differences between Hazare and his key aide, Arvind Kejriwal, saying the speculation was baseless.

Former team Anna members said the formation of a preparatory committee to be announced soon, will be the first step towards the launch of a new party.

Reports from Hazare's village indicated that his decision to disband the core committee did not come as a surprise to his supporters there.

Sources close to Hazare said for the past few months he had been feeling suffocated mainly because of the language barrier and life style in Delhi. "Anna is a person from a rural background, very simple, and people around him in Delhi are highly educated with totally different manners,” a close aide of Hazare said.

Insiders from the Hazare camp said there have always been two views on the political line that the agitation should adopt. A dominant group had always felt that Hazare should go for providing a political alternative.

"His anti-Congress stand made it clear that there was no point in running away from formation of political alternative,” sources said.