Team Anna disbanded, team members taken by surprise

The decision to dissolve the team came as a surprise to some of the Team Anna members, including Justice Santosh Hegde and Devender Sharma, while Kiran Bedi, who was in yesterday's meeting with Hazare, said she did not know what all it means.

Hazare's announcement came in his blog which suggested that he was not fully with Team Anna on its journey into electoral politics. The blog came after a meeting yesterday with some team members here.

Hazare did not speak about the future course of action but erstwhile Team Anna came out with a statement saying a "very inclusive" preparatory committee is being constituted to take forward the formation of a political alternative.

"Government is not ready to enact Jan Lokpal Bill. How long and how many times we will go on fast? Now, it's time to leave fast and give the country a political alternative...I think that corruption will not come down during this government tenure because it does not have the intention.

"Today, we are now stopping the activities of Team Anna. Team Anna was formed to fight for Jan Lokpal. We have also decided not to have any more talks with the government. So from today, so what is perceived as Team Anna is not there or Team Anna Core Committee," Hazare said.

Hazare appeared to put some conditions for embarking on his nationwide tour to awaken people about his team political alternative, saying he will travel across the country only if resolutions are passed by gram sabhas and similar forums in urban areas for an alternative.

"At Jantar Mantar, the team asked the people whether they are for a political alternative. All of you said yes. But Jantar Mantar is not the whole country. The country is big. It is necessary to take the opinion of people," Hazare said. MORE