Yes he will. No he won’t. Yes he will. A flip-flopping Anna Hazare on Monday announced that a restructuring of his team’s core committee was on.
Pointing out that the existing panel was meant to last just two-and-a-half months, Hazare said, “The committee that will be formed now will be for a far longer period, with representation from Dalit, Muslim and tribal sections. We will take all sections so nobody can complain of being left out. Even the youth will be well represented.”
The move comes as key Team Anna members battle controversies — including allegations of financial irregularities and of misguiding the social activist for their personal gain — and amid calls from within the group itself for a revamp of the core team.
Talk of a restructure has been doing the rounds for a while. On October 29, Hazare decided to form a policy framework before undertaking the exercise.
Barely a week later, his official blogger, Raju Parulekar, posted a letter from the activist describing a restructuring blueprint. Parulekar added that Hazare wanted to get rid of “fascist”, “undemocratic” and “opportunist” Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Prashant Bhushan — the trio whose controversies have pushed Team Anna on the backfoot.
Hazare denied any such plan on Saturday, saying “Parulekar is speaking his own mind”. The blog was immediately shut down. On Monday, in his village Ralegan Siddhi, Hazare defended his colleagues, saying, “The government is free to conduct any investigation against any of our team members... Do it (the inquiry) not once but four times.”