Social activist Anna Hazare on Tuesday reiterated that he would not campaign for his former colleague Arvind Kejriwal’s party in the 2014 elections. He would withhold his reasons for now. “If I say anything now, there will be problem.”
Mr. Hazare said here that Mr. Kejriwal was “dreaming” if he believed that he (Anna) would come round. “ Agar who aisa sochtein hain, toh woh sapne dekh rahe hain. Mei kya keh sakta hun? (If he thinks so, he is dreaming. What can I say?)”
Initially, Mr. Hazare said he would support Mr. Kejriwal if he contested against Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal from Chandni Chowk here. Then he said he would back Mr. Kejriwal and other honest candidates from his Aam Aadmi Party but later aired the view that the AAP convener was “greedy” (for power) and he would not even vote for him, leave alone campaign for him.
To a question, Mr. Hazare defended his flip-flop on Mr. Kejriwal, saying as times changed he had to alter his views about his former activist-colleague.
Asserting that he did not intend entering politics and did not want to talk about Mr. Kejriwal, Mr. Hazare said, “I have never told anybody to vote for this party or that person. If I had belief in politics, I would have stood for elections much earlier.”
‘Time to dissolve House’
On other issues, Mr. Hazare said the time had come to dissolve Parliament as the divide between the rich and the poor was widening and the Lok Sabha was “not upholding the Constitution.”
The anti-corruption activist, who proposes to undertake a nationwide tour next month to “awaken people,” said the Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha was “not so strong” and he would go on another agitation before the 2014 elections if a strong law was not brought before Parliament.
Mr. Hazare said a new office for his movement would be inaugurated at his Maharashtra village, Ralegan Siddhi, on the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. Over 1,000 youths would gather there and take a pledge to bring about a change in the country.
