Anna's decision a complete surprise, shocking: Kejriwal

Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday described activist Anna Hazare's decision to snap ties with the pro-politics group in the anti-corruption movement as "shocking and unbelievable" and said the veteran activist's principles will be the foundation of their party.

"We respect Anna Hazare, he is our guru and father. Wednesday's developments came as a complete surprise. It was shocking, unbelievable, unfortunate and sad," Kejriwal told reporters after a meeting with some of the supporters to chalk out the next course of action.

Hazare on Wednesday announced the split with the Kejriwal-led group, which is going ahead with its plan to form a political party, saying they should not use his name or photo for the outfit they are planning to launch.

"Anna's photograph and name are printed in our hearts. We will continue to take his blessings and touch his feet. Anna's five principles will become the foundation of our party," Kejriwal said.

Responding to Hazare's remarks that he does not go by a survey conducted through social networking sites, he claimed that it was the veteran activist himself who asked them to conduct a survey on whether to form a party or not.

"Anna had asked us to do the survey. Using SMS and Internet was his idea," he said.

Claiming that there is a sense of urgency to change the system, he said the country was on "sale and everything is being sold out. We have challenges as well as opportunities.
In our view, both Congress and BJP are the same."

Meanwhile, Kejriwal's supporters took potshots at Hazare on social networking sites like Twitter, posts which were re-tweeted by India Against Corruption.

One tweet read, "Anna made people aware about corruption, but doesn't say what to do with that awareness, Going political is only logical step" while another said, "need to change the script now! Let People write the script and not few who are disconnected from people."