Ex-Team Anna rift widens as Kiran Bedi continues to back BJP

NEW DELHI: Amid signs of a deepening rift former Team Anna member Kiran Bedi on Monday continued her public support of BJP accentuating the differences with her colleagues, Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan. This comes a day after she skipped the protest - Kejriwal's gherao plan targeting BJP president Nitin Gadkari's residence along with the residences of PM Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Bedi tweeted, "BJP is confirming need for SIT in Coalgate. Something for which Team Anna held hunger fast. What if they lent support then?"

She also reiterated that India Against Corruption (IAC) agitation should have pressed for the PM's resignation over coal block allocation "instead of bracketing all in Coalgate'.'

She tweeted, "Instead of bracketing all in Coalgate, demonstration of yesterday (Sunday) should have been for PM's resignation! PM has breached national trust!"

Significantly, the ex-IPS officer has in fact echoed the stand taken by BJP in stalling Parliament proceedings. Monday was the fifth day when BJP did not allow Parliament to function pressing its demand for Singh's resignation.

Asked if she was unhappy with the way the IAC movement was heading, Bedi said, "I certainly wish this movement had remained the way it was — as a national movement."

"When you speak for an issue for which that party (BJP) also stands today doesn't mean that you have joined the party, or the party has incorporated you. The country must get used to independent voices... without aligning them up with interests and commitments. The country also has independent people they have nothing to gain but their own conviction to promote," Bedi said.

Bedi had not joined the IAC agitation as she felt the target of the protesters should only be the ruling Congress. She said she was "only for focus of the movement to hold the party in power accountable. They alone have the power to replace the rotten system".