Team Anna member quits, says anti-graft movement has stagnated

In the first signs of crack in the new Team Anna that has hardly taken off, Punjab IPS officer Shashikant resigned from the coordination committee of the Hazare-led anti-corruption movement Tuesday. Speaking to The Indian Express from Istanbul, he said his resignation was necessitated by infighting within the team and volunteers and a feeling that the movement had "lost its steam".

"With a heavy heart, I hereby resign from the movement. But I am at your beck and call all the time," Shashikant emailed Hazare. He urged his colleagues from the anti-corruption movement to remove him from the mass mailing list as he would only want to interact with them on a "one to one basis".

Shashikant was one of the 15 names that Hazare had announced in November to take the movement forward. The announcement had been preceded by bitter wrangling among probables for inclusion, but it was after the committee was constituted that the differences really came to the fore, with volunteers refusing to work out of the South Delhi office and committee members resenting each other's roles and stands. It is believed to have been this atmosphere of distrust that forced Hazare to close down the Delhi office.

Shashikant is the first member of the committee to admit to the internal differences and opt out. "Yes, I have resigned. We are hardly moving ahead, everything has stagnated. There are fights with volunteers and the coordination committee does hardly any coordination. Anna is a gentleman but it is not fair to take such a good person for a ride," Shashikant said.

A member of the coordination committee who had been a part of the original Team Anna, when asked about Shashikant's resignation, said: "Who is he?"

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