A new ‘outing’ in team Anna

Ever since the Lokpal Bill issue last year, Anna Hazare and his army, termed by the media as ‘TeamAnna Members’ have constantly been in the public eye for one reason or the other. Whether it is for Prashant Bhushan, a close associate of Anna expressing displeasure about Anna’s meeting with MNS leader Raj Thakrey or Kiran Bedi’s lack of political correctness, everything said and done by the members of the Anna Hazare gang has been under the scrutiny of the media. The latest development to add to this very list is the resignation given by the only Muslim member of team Anna, Mufti Shamoon Qasmi. In fact Qasmi was the only Muslim member in the entire Anna clan and has been along with him since the inception of the campaign itself.

Apparently Mufti Shamoon Qasmi was upset over the behavior shown by the other team Anna members. The members mentioned were Aravind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia who have been under the limelight ever since the entire campaign surged to fame. According to Mufti Shamoon Qasmi, who resigned during a core committee meeting, Anna Hazare asked for an account of the money that was spent under the banner of the party for the rallies that took place in Mumbai and Delhi. Seemingly, around 2.8 million rupees were spent on the rally that was held in Mumbai and Anna Hazare wanted an account for it. However Kejriwal could not produce a satisfactory answer.

When Qasmi was questioned why he opted out of the party, he stated that there were rumors doing rounds about him being a close associate of Mulayam Singh Yadav. Also there were speculations that he will be joining hands with Samajwadi Party. Some of the other team member made this accusation and that upset Qasmi leading him to resign from the party. Qasmi stated that he was a loyal member of the party and would have never thought such a thing ever. He said that how could he turn disloyal after being with the party for so long.

Stating the incident to be an attack on his integrity he chose to quit. However he said that he still has respect for Anna Hazare and would continue to work for the party in any way he can. His equation with the other team Anna members stands to be questioned now after his resignation.