Dispute surfaces in Team Anna over Coalgate Protests by Kejriwal

Former woman top cop and a key member of the disbanded Team Anna group, Kiran Bedi, did not participate in Sunday’s anti-corruption protest rally by India Against Corruption (IAC) as she was not in favour of protesting against the BJP.

Asked the reason for Bedi’s absence, IAC head Arvind Kejriwal told reporters: “On this issue she (Bedi) probably feels that the BJP can give the country a good government. But the BJP can’t.”

The IAC members, including Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan, had organized a ‘gherao’ or surrounding the houses of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Nitin Gadkari to protest corruption.

Kejriwal had maintained on Saturday that Bedi was “completely” with them though they had different view points on including the BJP in their target against corruption.

Bedi had tweeted on Saturday that while she “fully supports” Kejriwal’s protest call, she felt that they should focus on the party in power.