Anna Hazare predicts change of guard in Delhi

PUNE: Social crusader Anna Hazare said on Monday that he will welcome the new government with a nationwide agitation demanding election reforms for the 'right to reject' and 'right to recall'.

"A new government will come to power. Let's see who forms the government. But we are certain that we will start an agitation for the election reforms," Hazare said after releasing a book on the Lokpal agitation by Dhananjay Bijale.

Later, Hazare told reporters, "Change is definite in New Delhi. But the new government will have to depend on other parties to prove a majority. But the government will be unstable if it is a 'khichdi' of seven or eight parties coming together."

Referring to the anonymous threat letter he received recently, Hazare said in his speech, "I am not targeting Suresh Jain and Padmasinh Patil as individuals; they are just representatives of a mindset. My fight is not against a party or individual, but against a corrupt system."

He said that introducing the 'none of the above' (NOTA) button on EVMs was not enough. "If the majority of voters press the NOTA button, the election should be cancelled and the rejected candidates should not be allowed to contest in the re-election," Hazare said.

Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana MP Raju Shetty, who also spoke during the function, said that the government had completely failed to ensure protection of social activists. "Ministers are talking about bringing back Dawood Ibrahim. But here they have not been able to arrest the killers of Narendra Dabholkar. Does the government want to send a message that it doesn't care about activists or does it not want Dabholkar's killers to be brought to justice?" Shetty asked.