Anna's party to be called Swaraj or India Against Corruption

After Anna Hazare’s statement last week that he might consider forming a political party, Team Anna may now be days away from annoucing the formation of one. If the government does not create a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the corruption charges against 14 UPA ministers and deliver a strong Lokpal Bill, the social activist and his team are likely to call off their ongoing  agitation in Delhi  with the announcement of a new political party. Unlike Anna’s maiden fast in April 2011 after which the government formed a joint drafting committee on Lokpal, this time the social activist and his team have taken a strong stand and may go ahead with their plan of giving people a political alternative. [caption id=“attachment_397043” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Will he head a political party soon? Anna Hazare at Jantar Mantar. PTI[/caption] “This time we are not waiting to hear from the government. We will give people of the country a political alternative,” said a Team Anna member privy to the development. Team Anna member Kiran Bedi has also hinted at their growing despair over the government refusing to engage with them on this occasion. “No one has come to us so far from the government. But this time its a do or die for us. Last time, the prime minister wrote to us and there was a discussion in parliament. But we have seen when happened,” said Team Anna member Kiran Bedi. India Against Corruption has permission for the agitation at Jantar Mantar till 8 August but as on Monday, the seventh day of the agitation, the government had refused to engage with Team Anna, with most ministers being quoted as saying they had no intention of negotiating with them. Sources have told Firstpost that the political party in the making will work on the principle of giving power to people in which voters of a constituency will have a say in who their candidate will be. The list of candidates will then be screened by a panel of eminent citizens. Team Anna is presently in the midst of discussions to fix the name of the party.‘Swaraj’ and ‘India Against Corruption’ are the most favoured presently among the core committee members but are a long way from being fixed. Hazare has talked about decentralisation of power on more than one occasion during his protests in Delhi and Maharashtra but other members of the movement have been less committal in public about the formation of a party. The social activist has on more than one occasion denied that he would contest any elections. For now the social activist and his aides are less than forthcoming at the moment about their potential political plans . “We are not ruling out any possibility. It all depends on what emerge in the days to come,” said core committee member Manish Sisodia, adding that focus was on both, Lokpal and formation of SIT.