Hazare to hold 1st meet of his anti-graft group today

New Delhi, Nov 9: Anna Hazare will hold the first meeting of his apolitical anti-corruption movement's Core Committee in New Delhi on Saturday in which former Army Chief VK Singh will be a special invitee.

Hazare, who was in Guwahati to attend some events there and returned to the capital on Friday afternoon, will along with his close aides deliberate on future strategies at the meeting.

Social activist Anna Hazare during a meeting with his core committee members at Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi on Saturday.

Sources close to Hazare said the former Army Chief will be a special invitee to the meeting. The activist's new team will have Kiran Bedi, Santosh Hegde, Medha Patkar, Akhil Gogoi and former DG (Prisons of Punjab) Shashi Kant as among the 16-17 members.

Sources said Hazare will expand the team after the first meeting where he will be having people with whom he had worked earlier. Activists like PV Rajagopal, Rajinder Singh and others will also join the group, they said.

Bedi said the new team comprises of "old and new" members. The new members include former IAS officer Avinash Dharmadhikari, agriculture expert Viswajeet, Kant and Brigadier (Retd) Brijender Kokhar.

"There will be a Core group, an advisory group," she said. She said Hegde will not attend tomorrow's meeting due to his preoccupation but has sent a letter to Hazare informing him about accepting the invitation to the Core Committee.

PTI