Describing the rift between him and Anna Hazare as a “difference of opinion,” Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said his “guru” was in his heart though many parties with vested interests had spent crores to drive a wedge between them.
Mr. Kejriwal, however, admitted that he had a difference of opinion with Mr. Hazare over the Lokpal Bill, which he believed was “weak” and would continue his fight for a strong Jan Lokpal Bill.
The AAP leader said several parties were looking to create a rift between him and Mr. Hazare because they believed “if Kejriwal and Hazare join hands then it would be more lethal than an atom bomb.” “All wrong people in every party have spent crores of rupees to keep us apart,” he told a channel.
Meanwhile, in his address to the media before beginning his speech, Mr. Hazare chastised some people standing in front of TV cameras in an apparent attack on Mr. Kejriwal and his band of media-savvy supporters. “The country does not benefit from people who stand before cameras. If I had chosen to stand in front of the cameras, I would not have reached where I have.”
Earlier, the veteran social activist asked senior AAP leader Gopal Rai to move out of the village when he objected to Gen (retd.) V.K. Singh, who had attacked Mr. Kejriwal for deserting Mr. Hazare.