Anna’s new team wants an old name, says we are India Against Corruption

As Anna Hazare announced a new core team on Saturday, one of its members, Kiran Bedi, made the first move to appropriate the 'India Against Corruption' tag.

In what may stir a controversy with their old associates, Bedi said: "It is they (Arvind Kejriwal and others) who moved out to form a political party. So we remain the IAC. In any case they will have a new name by November 26, so this should not be an issue." Fellow Anna team member Medha Patkar insisted that anybody can take up the IAC name. "There is no cheap political fight here."

Bedi also sought to lay claim to the "revelations" that Team Kejriwal has been making at successive intervals. These exposes, she said, were culled from "information that we had been receiving even while we were together".

The composition of the team itself was no surprise, with former Army chief V K Singh listed as a special invitee. A statement issued subsequently said the core committee had been reconstituted to re-energise the "IAC movement".

Apart from Hazare, Bedi and Patkar, the core committee comprises Justice Santosh Hegde, Arvind Gaur, Akhil Gogoi, Sunita Godara, Avinash Dharmadhikari, Vishwambhar Chaudhary, Shashi Kant, Lt Col Bijender Khokhar, Rakesh Rafiq, Ran Singh Arya, Shivendra Singh Chauhan and Akshay Kumar. Rajinder Singh and P V Rajagopal skipped the meeting.

While Hazare aides claimed that the two had stayed out because they were "in talks with the government on own agitations", Singh contradicted that. "I have always said and I continue to say that I am willing to be part of a team that works in national interest but will not work in a team that is identified by one individual or known by his name. I have said this to them clearly while refusing the invite."

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