Team in the dark, Anna & Baba announce joint plan till 2014
Taking ‘Team Anna’ by surprise, Anna Hazare today came together with yoga guru Ramdev on a public platform and announced a mass movement starting May 1 followed by a joint fast on June 3 at Jantar Mantar against “corruption and black money”. Jan Lokpal seems to have been put on the backburner as Hazare spoke of Lokayukta in Maharashtra as his first priority.
Though the social activist was in Delhi to attend a core committee meeting of the India Against Corruption on Sunday, he had arranged a meeting with Ramdev beforehand. The latter had reportedly sent an emissary to Ralegan Siddhi for the appointment, with the IAC and its core committee kept in the dark.
While Hazare had talked of cooperation with Ramdev at his Jantar Mantar fast in March, making it formal appeared Ramdev’s idea. The yoga guru looked in control at the press meet, steering Hazare through the questions and also when to call an end to it. The two vowed that they had been together and would always be together “all our lives”. Hazare said he planned to visit different parts of the country to bring people together till the elections in 2014.
Sources in the core committee accused Ramdev of both planning the press meet and going to great lengths to keep it under wraps. The issue is likely to rock Sunday’s meeting, with a section within the IAC opposed to any alliance with Ramdev.
Ramdev and Hazare held a long meeting at Gurgaon today, after which they announced that they would together rally across the country for the Jan Lokpal Bill and for getting back black money.from
THE INDIAN EXPRESS
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