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Team Hazare takes political plunge

Ends fast; says fight is for changing system, not power

AFP, New Delhi
Indian anti-graft activists led by Anna Hazare yesterday said they would start a new political movement aimed at winning seats in parliament for candidates committed to fighting corruption in public life.
Anna Hazare, while speaking at the end of the fast at Jantar Mantar yesterday, announced that he himself would not be contesting elections, but will support this party 'from the outside'.
The move ahead of a 2014 general election marks a new chapter in their bid to rid the country of the scourge of bribe-taking which mobilised hundreds of thousands last year nation-wide but has since fizzled out.
Aides to Hazare, a 75-year-old former army driver who models his appearance on independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, broke the news at the end of his six-day hunger strike to press his demand for a new powerful anti-corruption ombudsman.
"This is not a party. It will be a movement from the street to parliament. There will be no high command. People will decide the candidates and they will fund it," fellow activist Arvind Kejriwal told a crowd of several thousand. Throwing light on its proposed "political alternative", Kejriwal said: "Our aim is not to grab power, but to end the Delhi-centric government and take governance to the villages and the people," Kejriwal told the thousands gathered at the indefinite fast site in Jantar Mantar.
Hazare became an unlikely national hero last August when he led countrywide protests that tapped into a rich seam of public anger at corruption and caught Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's tainted coalition government unawares.
But this time, the media have been less openly supportive with many saying Hazare has gone too far by displaying an autocratic streak in insisting the government accept his demands.
Meanwhile, Team Anna's decision to end their fast at Jantar Mantar and proposed to form a 'political alternative' as an answer to an unresponsive government evoked some mixed responses.
Taking potshots atTeam Anna over its decision, Swami Agnivesh said they have hurt the sentiments of the general public by leaving their 'anshan' midway.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief Nitin Gadkari yesterday stressed that Team Anna could not become an alternative to the BJP and also said his party did not face any threat from the new group.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni Thursday said their move to form a political alternative would make them realise the responsibilities and compulsions of being in politics.
"Personally I don't approve of Team Anna's entry into politics. It should have remained a social movement," said Pushpendra Sharma, a 24-year-old student. "The movement has not died, it has committed suicide."