New York/New Delhi: Anna Hazare felt that some of his team members had "ego problems" and he was not getting the "right feedback" on the negotiations during his August agitation for a strong Lokpal, a US newspaper has said.
However, Hazare in a statement, claimed he was misquoted by 'The New York Times' and there was no question of removing Arvind Kejriwal or Prashant Bhushan from the core committee leading the agitation.
In an interview to the paper, Hazare was asked: "Among your allies are Prashant Bhushan, who criticises economic liberalisation, and Arvind Kejriwal, who has been criticised for saying overly harsh things about the prime minister. Do you agree with them, and is there disunity among your senior leaders?"
To this, Hazare was quoted as saying, "I will try to change them. There were some ego problems. From the government side it was Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal. From our side also there were some issues. I was not getting the right feedback, nor was the prime minister. That complicated the issues.
"Later, Vilasrao Deshmukh and another minister got involved and direct contact with the prime minister was established. I have an old relationship with Vilasrao. Then the issues were resolved. They (Bhushan and Kejriwal) are good people. I need to change them. I will change them."
In a statement issued tonight, Hazare said the journalists had asked him whether he agreed with the views of Kejriwal and Bhushan and whether there was any differences among his supporters.
"In reply to the question, I answered that there are no differences. I said that if there are any shortcomings, I will try to find it out and if something comes to the fore, I will try to resolve it. But these journalists have taken the wrong meaning of what I said and wrote that I will remove Kejriwal and Bhushan. This is a lie," he said.
Hazare said he was also opposed to the present economic policies like Bhushan. He also challenged the journalists to present the audio tape where he has said that he will change Bhushan and Kejriwal.
Claiming that there were efforts to divide the civil society, Hazare said there is no question of removing Kejriwal or Bhushan.
In the interview, he said people of character and principle should sit in these positions. "Parliament is the holy temple of democracy. Holy people should go there," he said when pointed out that he was accused of having contempt for democracy.
When asked whether he wanted to be prime minister and get into politics, he said it was "muck for me. I will neither contest elections nor make a party nor go into politics. But in four or five years, if I get good people, I will ask them to fight elections."
On people comparing him with Mahatma Gandhi, he said it was not fair as he was not able to even sit at Gandhi's feet.
When asked whether his fasts were "political blackmail", he said, "What do you mean, blackmail? Am I asking for money?... Because all the people cannot go to Parliament, we have elected politicians to make good laws and to take care of the treasury. If they are not making good laws and not keeping the treasury clean, if I protest against that, it is not blackmail."
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