In the season of political switchovers, anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare made a major flip flop on Friday.
After highlighting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as the most competent choice for the Prime Minister’s post in TV ads and public interactions, Hazare on Friday abruptly withdrew his “blessing and support” to her.
Taking a complete U-turn Hazare told mediapersons here that “some people who deceive” had got associated with Mamata which made it difficult for him to support her. Two days ago, Anna did not attend a rally in Ramlila Maidan after assuring Mamata that he would address it jointly.
Responding to questions by reporters whether he would support Mamata for the Prime Minister’s post even after the Delhi fiasco, the social activist asserted: “No. Now, some people, who deceived me, have got associated with Mamata Banerjee, which makes it difficult for me to support her.”
He said he had told Banerjee to stop using his name in Trinamool’s advertisement campaigns for the polls. On February 19, Anna declared his support to Mamata as she agreed to implement his 17-point agenda. He said he supported Mamata not as a party, but as an individual he admired and that he also backed her views on society and the country.
Breaking his silence on his absence from the much-hyped ‘joint’ rally at Ramlila Maidan on Wednesday, Hazare said he had skipped it because of a low turnout as not even 4,000 people had turned up to attend the meeting and he had been misled. Mamata had said it was Hazare’s rally and she had been invited to attend, which she did.
Earlier, Hazare’s aides had claimed that he could not attend the rally because he was “unwell”.
“When I came to Delhi... I found out by 12 noon that there were only 2,000 to 2,500 people in the rally. Then I checked at 1 pm and then 2 pm.
I thought that something is amiss. It is the same Ramlila Maidan which teemed with people for 12 days (during his agitations earlier) but this time, there were not even 4,000 people.
“I was then called (to the venue). This was the mistake. This was the dhokhadhadi (deceit),” he said on Friday, explaining why he did not attend the rally for which he had specifically come from Maharashtra a night earlier.
Accusing one of the organisers for misleading him, Hazare said he was told that it was Banerjee’s rally while the Trinamool chief was told that she was attending Hazare’s rally. “She was misinformed and I was misinformed,” he added. Banerjee, on the other hand, maintained that it was Hazare’s rally which she had been invited to attend.
After Hazare’s Press conference Banerjee responded to reporters in Kolkata that the rally was organized at the insistence of Hazare. “It was not our rally. It was organised at the insistence of Anna. It was not a Trinamool Congress rally,” the West Bengal Chief Minister told a news channel.