Anna Hazare to hold first meeting of his new anti-corruption group today

New Delhi: Activist Anna Hazare will hold the first meeting of his apolitical anti-corruption movement's Core Committee in Delhi on Saturday. Former Army Chief General VK Singh will be a special invitee. Anna aide Kiran Bedi tweeted, "Anna's Core Grp meets today. Each 1 is a personal invitee of Anna. This will b phase 1 of CG! Will spread out nationally for several causes! (sic)."

Anna, who was in Guwahati to attend some events there and returned to the capital on Friday afternoon, will along with his close aides deliberate on future strategies at the meeting. Sources close to Anna said the former Army chief will be a special invitee to the meeting.

The activist's new team will have Kiran Bedi, Santosh Hegde, Medha Patkar, Akhil Gogoi and former DG (Prisons of Punjab) Shashi Kant as among the 16 to 17 members. Sources said Hazare will expand the team after the first meeting where he will be having people with whom he had worked earlier. Activists like P V Rajagopal, Rajinder Singh and others will also join the group, they said.

The activist\'s new team will have Kiran Bedi, Santosh Hegde and Medha Patkar among the 16-17 members.

Bedi said the new team comprises of "old and new" members. The new members include former IAS officer Avinash Dharmadhikari, agriculture expert Viswajeet, Kant and Brigadier (Retd) Brijender Kokhar. "There will be a Core group, an advisory group," she said. She said Hegde will not attend Saturday's meeting due to his preoccupation but has sent a letter to Hazare informing him about accepting the invitation to the Core Committee.

(With additional information from PTI)

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