Anna sets conditions for Kejriwal and company

After various reports on differences in the disbanded Team Anna over taking the political route emerging in the media, the ball is once again in the anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare's court. The decision of giving a political alternative to the people of the country – which was announced from Jantar Mantar in July – has been put on hold for now and a final decision will be taken by Hazare after a nationwide survey is conducted by his colleagues. 

At the same time, Hazare has laid some stringent conditions for his erstwhile team to go political, which will largely apply to the election process that the new political formation adopts. 

Sources say that now a final decision on giving a political alternative would be taken after a nationwide week-long survey is conducted. This survey will be conducted door-to-door, through phone calls and on the Internet, after which Hazare will give his view whether a political alternative was needed or not or if he will support the party that was announced at Jantar Mantar.  

'The result of the survey would decide the future of political alternative. We met Annaji and he gave us many suggestions in this regard and he has said that he would tell his views to the country on going political on the basis of the survey. This week-long survey will decide our future course of action on political front,' said Manish Sisodia, a member of the disbanded Team Anna. 

On Saturday, Hazare's aides Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Dinesh Vaghela failed to get a definite positive response from him on supporting the political alternative to be floated by his former team. They had rushed to Ralegan Siddhi after Hazare's announcement of a new action plan, in which he had announced that there was no need form a political party or contest elections. The new action plan talked about appealing people to vote for right candidates. 

Sources say that Hazare has reservations on various issues. His main concerns are about the processes to select right candidates and their behaviour after election. He has earlier said that the candidates should not have any criminal background, pending cases against them and should have an impeccable track record of social service. 

Hazare also told Kejriwal and others that the candidates should give certain undertakings if they are elected, which includes not taking a salary of more than Rs 25,000 per month after getting elected, rejecting government accommodation red beacons on their vehicles. He also insisted that they would have to make their bank accounts public for for scrutiny. 

Kejriwal and others have been saying that they have full backing of Hazare for their political alternative, while Hazare's moves have been vague on the issue. Some former core members of the team – Kiran Bedi and Santosh Hegde – have expressed reservation on taking the political route .