Thaindian News

Ghaziabad, Oct 29 (IANS) Team Anna key member Kiran Bedi alleged the government was trying to render “futile” their fight against corruption as the core committee met Saturday with several main members like N. Santosh Hegde, Medha Patkar and Anna Hazare himself absent and demands being made for a new panel to be set up.

Bedi, before going in for the meeting, told reporters: “Government is trying hard to make futile the attempts against corruption launched by Team Anna, but we won’t let that happen and all attempts of the government will fail.”

Kumar Vishwas, one of the key members of the core committee, had Friday demanded creation of a new panel. However, he was also not present at the meeting.

Medha Patkar has sent a representative for the meeting.

The meeting is supposed to discuss the “smear campaign against the movement”, according to an India Against Corruption spokesperson.

The meeting comes in the wake of allegations of financial impropriety against IAC members Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi and the attack on another member, Prashant Bhushan, by right-wing activists over his comment suggesting a plebiscite on the Kashmir issue.

The meeting, being watched keenly in political circles, began at the office of the Public Cause Research Foundation — a trust run by Kejriwal — in Delhi’s suburban Ghaziabad town at 11 a.m.

The members who attended the meeting included Vincent M. Concessao, Prashant Bhushan, Shanti Bhushan, Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi, Manish Sisodia, Akhil Gogoi, Sanjay Singh, Naveen Jaihind, Chandra Mohan, Prithvi Reddy, Mayank Gandhi and Devendra Sharma.