Hegde plays down rift in Team Anna core committee

Bangalore: Team Anna member and former Lokayukta Santosh Hegde today sought to downplay the rift in the Anna Core Committee following expulsion of a Muslim leader and said “differences” are bound to occur in such a vast movement. “In a situation like this when Anna is fighting corruption and a large number of people are supporting the movement and people want to be in the core committee, managing committee, some differences are bound to occur,” he said on yesterday’s developments when Mufti Shameem Kazmi was expelled from Team Anna. [caption id=“attachment_285869” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Image fom IBN Live”] [/caption] Kazmi was expelled after being accused of secretly recording proceedings of a core committee meeting but he dismissed the charge and claimed he quit the camp as the group was turning “anti-Muslim”. Speaking on the sidelines of a function after launching a book Anna: 13 Days that Awakened India written by journalist Ashutosh, the former Supreme Court judge said, “the movement is a major struggle against corruption”, and pointed to the freedom struggle. “Some wanted use of force and a section of leaders wanted it to be a non-violent movement”. “It is a long fight. These are all the things that will come into existence in a long fight. We have allowed corruption to happen in the last 60 years. In 1988, it was the Bofors for Rs 63 crore. In 2010, it’s Rs 1.76 lakh crore in 2G,” he noted. Hegde described as “unfortunate” the communal tag attached to expulsion of Kazmi, saying “it is there in India. This problem of caste, creed, rich, poor becoming an issue”. Asked if coming on board of yoga guru Ramdev has caused a problem, Hegde said whoever was willing to support the Anna movement should be taken in. “If someone is going on a wrong path, then a decision should be taken”. Hegde said he favoured passage of the Lokpal bill in the Parliament session beginning tomorrow. “Let there be a bill. Drafting of the constitution took four-and-half-years. Now, it has witnessed more than 100 amendments. If changes are required, then we can think. But I am not speaking for Team Anna. It is my personal opinion”, he said. PTI