This Article is From Jan 14, 2012

Team Anna likely to campaign in UP from Feb 3; Anna's participation uncertain

Team Anna likely to campaign in UP from Feb 3; Anna's participation uncertain
New Delhi: With polling in Uttar Pradesh scheduled to begin from February 8, Team Anna today announced they will begin campaigning in the state from February 3. However, anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare's participation in the campaign is uncertain as of now. Anna, who was recently released from a hospital in Pune, has been advised to rest for a month.

Uttar Pradesh will vote between February 8 and March 4 in staggered seven-phase polling to elect the 403-member state assembly. Team Anna's key members have said they will announce their campaigning plan in a few days.

At the beginning of this month, key Team Anna members had said they will not target any one party in the coming elections in states like Punjab, UP and Uttarakhand.

They had earlier threatened to campaign hard against the Congress as punishment for delivering a weak Lokpal Bill. The anti-corruption legislation was passed by the Lok Sabha in late December last year. However, the government ducked a vote on the Bill in the Rajya Sabha after it was obvious that it didn't have the numbers needed to push the bill through the Upper House.

Seventy four-year-old Anna at the time was on the first day of a hunger strike; he had to call off his fast because doctors warned his health was deteriorating rapidly. Another blow was delivered to Team Anna by poor turnout in Mumbai, where Anna had set up camp.

Last October, Team Anna campaigned vigorously against the Congress in Hisar in Haryana, which had to elect its Lok Sabha MP. The Congress candidate lost his deposit, but the party had fallen out of favour with voters in this area for a while, so the defeat of the Congress was not really a Team Anna-delivered victory.

Team Anna was criticised for playing a political role by supporters of their campaign including Justice Santosh Hegde, who has been a major face of the India Against Corruption campaign fronted by Anna.

The activists have also been accused by the Congress of a thinly-veiled affiliation with the BJP and its parent-body, the RSS.
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