Team Anna, which has launched a crusade against corruption across the country, has stayed back from the June 12 byelections for 18 Assembly seats and one Lok Sabha constituency in Andhra Pradesh.
This is despite the fact Kadapa Lok Sabha member Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, chief of the YSR Congress, is behind the bar for allegedly amassing wealth through illegal investments in his firms.
When asked why team Anna was staying away from the Andhra bypolls despite corruption being a major issue, a key associate of the Gandhian activist Anna Hazare, Manish Sisodia said that they were no more concentrating on byelections.
"We are not so active in Andhra Pradesh. Though we have volunteers based in Hyderabad, the campaign has not gained much of a base there," said Sisodia when asked why the team Anna was giving Andhra bypolls a miss.
It may be recalled here that the entire team Anna had campaigned against the Congress in the Hissar bypoll last year.
The team had also played recorded video of Anna Hazare to persuade the electorate to vote against Congress candidate.
However, desperately trying to justify its decision to stay away from Andhra By polls, Sisodia, while speaking to this newspaper, said that the team was “not interested on bypolls at this juncture.”
For the self-styled crusaders, “Hissar Lok Sabha byelection last year was an exception.”
When asked about the team's move to selectively target Congress, the members refuted the charge and said that they “are against all political outfits, which oppose the Lokpal Bill.”
With regard to AP, Sisodia argued that though there had been a large number of corruption cases in the state, 'lack of base' was apparently keeping the anti-graft activists away from the scene.
“We are not concentrating on AP right now,” said Ms Aswathi Muralidharan, another key member of the team Anna.
Team Anna members also maintain that they are more active in Delhi for the reason that most of their members are in the national capital region.
“Since we undertake fasts in Delhi mostly, we are seen being strong in the national capital,” added Mr Sisodia. However, there seem to be some differences of opinion here too.
Refuting claims that team Anna was more active in northern India, Murlidharan has said: “We are very strong in Bengaluru and Chennai. Two members of team Anna's core committe are from these two regions.” She claimed that last year Anna Hazare had a 'very good rally' in Chennai.
Despite claims and counter claims, the team Anna seems to be working mainly against the Congress and remained more focussed in the Hindi heartland.