Hazare announces new core committee before March 23 agitation

Ahead of his March 23 agitation in Delhi, social activist Anna Hazare has announced his new 20-member 'National Core Committee'.

The new members, hailing from different states, have given affidavits stating that they would never join a political party or contest elections, Hazare said in a statement.

Hazare has planned the protest in Delhi to press for appointment of a "competent Lokpal" and to highlight farmers' issues.

The veteran Gandhian had said recently that his new agitation would not give rise to "another Kejriwal", and he will take affidavits from the participants that they would not join politics.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who rose to fame with Hazare's agitation for Lokpal bill, later parted ways with his mentor when he decided to join electoral politics and launched the Aam Aadmi Party.
 

"Ahead of the March 23 agitation, I have been carrying out a Jan-Jagran Yatra' throughout the country to awaken the masses. During this Yatra, a lot of people have extended their support to the movement," Hazare said.

"In the first phase we have now formed a core committee at the national level which consists of 20 members. In the run-up to the March 23 protest, the team will be expanded to 40 to 50 members," said Hazare.

"All these activists have been appointed in the core committee for one year, and appointment letters will be issued to them," said Hazare.

A meeting of the new core committee will take place in the national capital on February 25.

The members of the new 'Team Anna' are: Akshaykumar (Odisha), Commander Yashwant Prakash (Rajasthan), Colonel Dinesh Nain (Delhi), Manindra Jain (Delhi), Vikram Taparwada (Rajasthan), Dasharath Kumar (Rajasthan), Karanveer Thaman (Punjab), Praveen Indian (Uttar Pradesh), Sunil Fauji (Uttar Pradesh), Gauravkant Sharma (Uttar Pradesh), Rakesh Rafiq (Uttar Pradesh), P N Kalki (Uttar Pradesh), Sushil Bhatt (Uttarakhand), Bhopal Singh Chaudhary (Uttarakhand), Naveen Jaihind (Haryana), Shivaji Khedkar (Maharashtra), Kalpana Inamdar (Maharashtra), Ram Naik (Karnataka), Serfi Flago (Arunachal Pradesh) and Sunil Lal (Uttar Pradesh).