Can Team Anna take on the Cong; Hegde asks the pertinent que

Bangalore, Aug 10: With the news of

taking the political plunge evoking mixed reactions from both within and outside the team, there is one voice that has made his stand very clear and that is none other than former Lokayukta of Karnataka, Justice

. In an interview with a prominent newspaper, he has been quoted as saying that he was personally not going to be a part of Team Anna's political party.

Hegde has been an important member of Team Anna and in recent times was seen distancing himself from the campaign and the agitation. He has been quoted as saying in the interview, "What is their ground reach to the voters. May be in Delhi and the outskirts of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan, but that's not India."

He added, "I was with them in the fight against corruption and I will not be involved in their plans to form a political party and fight elections. Team Anna doesn't have the wherewithal to fight and finance an all-India election and get a majority."

On Team Anna's intentions in taking the plunge into electoral politics, Hegde stated that Kejriwal had personally flown down to Bangalore to meet him. He commented on this, "Arvind Kejriwal flew to Bangalore and had a one on one meeting with me at my residence and tried to convince me that going political was the only way out since the government was not willing to respond to the public mood clearly being in favour of a strong Lokpal." On this, Hegde said that Kejriwal's reasoning was good but impractical.

He further added, "Politics is a profession. It is not just public service. How are they going to guard against undesirable people joining you, only because you need 500 plus candidates?"

In his open resentment to the idea of Team Anna joining politics, Hegde stated, "Can they take on a party like the Congress which is 100 years old and regional forces that are entrenched in states? What has been built over 62 years cannot be changed in 62 months."

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