TNI Bureau: The rift within Team Anna members came to light when Kiran Bedi stayed away from yesterday’s anti-corruption protest led by Arvind Kejriwal. Even the change of Topi (caps) from “I am Anna” to “I am Arvind” suggested that protesters are now following the path of Kejriwal, not Anna Hazare.
While Kejriwal slams both the Congress and BJP, Kiran Bedi shows soft corner towards the saffron party saying their support is needed to carry out the movement against corruption.
Kiran was not in favour of protesting outside the residences of top BJP leaders as she thinks that Arun Jaitely, Sushma Swaraj, LK Advani and Nitin Gadkari were listening to them when Anna Hazare was on fast. They were pressing the government in Parliament to discuss the issues.
According to her, Kejriwal can’t give a political alternative overnight to the people. Therefore, BJP’s support is essential to press their demands. She preferred to skip the Sunday’s protest outside the residences Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and BJP chief Nitin Gadkari.
However, Kejriwal, who stormed the national capital yesterday has different stand. He directly attacked Congress and BJP saying that both the parties are corrupt. He said that yesterday’s movement consists of two goals: one was to prove with evidence that how the Congress and BJP indulge in corruption together. They work in collaboration and have an understanding. Secondly, he wanted to give the message to people that how dictatorial the government is.
He did not support Bedi’s stand that the BJP should not be targeted. When asked about the differences, he said that no rift is within the members. He is trying to convince her that if Congress loses and BJP win the elections in 2014, the situation will be the same as both the national parties are corrupt.
Sunday’s movement seems to be successful as the protesters tried to gherao the residences of the PM, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and BJP chief Nitin Gadkari. The protest intensified and police were forced to resort to lathicharge. Several protesters were injured, Kejriwal, Prshant Bhushan were detained. Even some media persons were injured in the lathicharge.
When asked about the change of caps, Kejriwal condemned such action by people wearing ‘I am Arvind’ caps. “This is very unfortunate. Anna Hazare is our leader. I respect him like I do my father. He is our leader and I am just a soldier,” he said.