Bedi said her action on Friday speaking from a stage at Ramlila Maidan went against her "grain" but asserted she did not mean to hurt anybody. "It went against my grain. It is not in my training but it was worth it...I did not mean to hurt anybody," she said.
Law Minister Salman Khurshid, a key negotiator with Team Anna, on Sunday said there may have been "errors of judgment" in handling Hazare's fast but there were no mistakes.
As Anna Hazare's fast entered Day 11 on Friday, the split in his team widened. It's now Swami Agnivesh and Justice Hegde versus the rest! The duo feel that Hazare should have called off the fast on Thursday and that protesting out the prime minister's residence was uncalled for.
'A system that is judge, jury, and executioner, with draconian and apparently ill-defined powers and a haphazard system of oversight is not necessarily a better denouement, even if the current situation is untenable,' says Ram Kelkar.
Rediff.com had asked its readers to suggest ways to end the impasse between the government and Team Anna over the Lokpal Bill draft.
You cannot fight a defiant person by being defiant in politics. This is a lesson the prime minister and his team have to learn if they want to remain in power, says Aslam Hunani.
Amid the standoff with Team Anna over the Lokpal Bill, the government has convened an all-party meeting tomorrow to find a way to solve the issue. Leaders of all political parties have been invited to attend the meet scheduled for 3.30 pm on Wednesday.
The Anna Hazare movement, which has not only gripped the nation, has also caught the fancy of the average foreign tourist.
The United Progressive Alliance government and Team Anna Hazare are finding it tough to walk a middle path on the proposed Lokpal Bill draft. Suggest five ways to resolve the stand-off
Even as the media continued to dig the dirt on members of Team Anna (with a little help from politicians and political parties) Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in her reply to Anna Hazare has assured him that she does not 'support or encourage the politics of smear campaigns.'
After having been beaten black and blue by Team Anna, the Congress party and the government are finally waking up to take the Gandhian on even as media managers in the party have so far not come out actively against the anti-corruption crusaders.
Team Anna member Shanti Bhushan was on Friday found to have evaded stamp duty to the tune of Rs 1.35 crore in the purchase of a prime property in Allahabad and slapped with a fine of over Rs 27 lakh on the outstanding amount.
Team Anna member Kiran Bedi on Friday ruled out Delhi as the venue for Anna Hazare's fast against Lokpal Bill from December 27, citing winter chill in the capital.
'A defeat in the Hisar by-election would not make any difference to the numbers in the Lok Sabha for the simple reason that the Congress had not won that seat in 2009 anyhow. But alienating the Trinamool Congress (19 Lok Sabha MPs), the DMK (18 Lok Sabha MPs), and the Nationalist Congress Party (nine Lok Sabha MPs in addition to all the MLAs in Maharashtra) is another story. Those 46 MPs are crucial to the survival of the Manmohan Singh ministry.'
Former Aam Aadmi Party leader Shazia Ilmi joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, but said she is not keen on contesting the upcoming Delhi assembly elections.
A day after she indicated that Bharatiya Janata Party's Narendra Modi was her preferred choice for the prime minister's post, former IPS officer and anti-corruption activist Kiran Bedi on Friday said she had not "joined any political party" but had only spoken for herself.
Defending the Lokpal Act passed by Parliament last year, former IPS officer Kiran Bedi on Thursday attacked Aam Aadmi Party charging it with spreading "misinformation".
Days after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party, Kiran Bedi today said that in Prime Minister Narendra Modi the party has with it the "world's most beautiful face" as she rebutted AAP's claim that she was brought in by the saffron outfit because it does not have a face of its own in Delhi.
The Aam Aadmi Party has launched a twitter war against Kiran Bedi and Shazia Ilmi, who have joined the Bharatiya Janata Party by pulling out old tweets of the two.
In what is seen as a subtle dig at Kiran Bedi for joining the Bharatiya Janata Party, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said he had also tried to convince her to take a plunge into politics.
"Feel nostalgic when I see this picture. We had burnt government's 'jokepal' at that time," Kejriwal tweeted, attaching a picture of him holding a burning copy of the draft Lokpal back in 2011.
Anna Hazare has thanked Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi for his "commitment" to the passage of the Lokpal Bill in Parliament, while demanding inclusion of recommendations of the select committee in the bill.
Softening his stand on the Lokpal issue, Anna Hazare on Saturday suggested moving ahead with the amended Bill presented in the Rajya Sabha and said improvements in the legislation could be brought through amendments later.
The Centre on Wednesday told the Delhi high court that AAP leaders, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, have not provided the information sought by them on the funding received by the party.
The Delhi high court on Thursday asked the Centre to look into "afresh" the accounts of Aam Aadmi Party to find out the source of money received by it after its inception.
A day after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party, Kiran Bedi on Friday said she was ready to contest against Arvind Kejriwal, Aam Aadmi Party chief and her former Team Anna colleague, in the Delhi assembly polls, if her party wants.
The Delhi high court on Wednesday sought responses from the Aam Aadmi Party and its founding members, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, on a plea for registration of a criminal case on the ground that the newly formed party allegedly received foreign funding in violation of various laws.
Counting of votes for the high-profile Delhi Assembly polls in which Bharatiya Janata Party and Aam Aadmi Party are locked in a direct fight will be taken up on Tuesday and final results are likely to be available by 1 pm.
Polling began on Saturday morning for the 70-member Delhi Assembly polls
A rare Bharatiya Janata Party leader with no Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh link, Kiran Bedi, the party's chief ministerial nominee for Delhi, described the Sangh as "very nationalistic" that has kept India united.
Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday dared Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for a public debate with him on issues relating to "inflated" power and water bills and women's safety among others.
Polling will begin in the capital on February 7 at 8 am and continue till 6 pm.
Sukh Ram and Raja were charged with corruption during their tenure as telecom ministers. Sukh Ram was convicted while Raja has been acquitted. One had cash found under his bed; in the case of the other the trial judge mockingly asks: Where is the money? And if there's no money, where is the corruption? So, pronounced innocent. Sukh Ram is a Brahmin. 'Maybe he strayed just that one time, people like that aren't usually corrupt.' And Raja is a Dalit. 'Can you expect any better?' What race is in some places, caste is in India, says Shekhar Gupta.
Arrogance can never be strength. It is a mask for lack of confidence. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's press conference on December 14 only reaffirms this. Hope the Aam Aadmi Party learns this lesson as well, says Arun Jaitley
Anna Hazare, fasting for the last five days for passage of Lokpal Bill, on Saturday said he was happy with the amended legislation presented in the Rajya Sabha and would call off his hunger strike the moment the law is enacted.
Differences between Team Anna and Aam Aadmi Party came to the fore on Friday when its leader Gopal Rai tried to interrupt General V K Singh's speech at the venue and was rebuffed by Anna Hazare who has been on indefinite hunger strike for passage in Parliament of Jan Lokpal Bill.
It is now an under-statement to call the UPA a lame duck government. It is in fact a dead duck, says Arun Jaitley.
Prakash Jha delivers a potion that is but a terrible hodgepodge of his earlier films.
The governments at the Centre and in the state were unprepared to handle the massive response to the large numbers of people, as they were not aware of the groundswell of public admonition that was against the Establishment, says N Sathiyamoorthy.
'Some in the Congress believe the party should, somewhat brazenly, claim the cause of fighting corruption as its own. But the Congress's idea of fighting corruption is nothing but tinkering with laws, it lacks the stomach to take on the corrupt,' feels T V R Shenoy.
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