Anna Hazare Not To Campaign In Poll-Bound States: Kiran Bedi

PUNE: Ailing social activist Anna Hazare won't be campaigning in five poll-bound states as he had planned earlier, his aide Kiran Bedi said on Thursday.

Bedi, a core Team Anna member, told reporters here that Hazare was recovering in a hospital but has been advised rest by doctors.

"Anna needs complete rest. Doctors have advised him not to travel. My opinion is also that Anna should be taking rest. So he won't be travelling or campaigning," Bedi said.

Team Anna had threatened to campaign against those parties that opposed the Jan Lokpal bill -- their version of the Lokpal bill -- in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur that are going to polls in the next two months. The campaign was particularly targeted against the Congress.

Hazare has been in a Pune hospital since Dec 31 after he developed health complications due to acute chest congestion.

Bedi said that the 74-year-old activist was recovering and his condition was stable.

The former police officer, who is one of the closest Hazare aides, said that the core group of their team would meet on Saturday to devise its further strategy.

Hazare due to his ailing health was earlier forced to call off his three-day scheduled hunger strike in Mumbai on December 28, less than 36 hours after he began it.

He had threatened to launch a sit-in outside the residences of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi, a party general secretary. This was also cancelled after Hazare's health deteriorated in Mumbai.

Posted in: Day To Day National News