New Delhi, Oct 23: Maintaining that they were “transparent” in their functioning, Team Anna today dismissed Swami Agnivesh's allegations that donations for Anna Hazare's agitation was siphoned off by Arvind Kejriwal, saying he might be leveling such accusations out of anger.
They said all details regarding their accounts will be put on the website of Public Cause Research Foundation (PCRF), which acted as the secretariat for Hazare's agitation, by this month-end.
Seeking to downplay allegations leveled against Agnivesh, Team Anna member and Kejriwal's close associate Manish Sisodia said, “Our accounts are already on the website.We have conducted a special audit for the last six months and by the month end we are putting the details on the website.”
On Agnivesh, he said, “We have no animosity with Swami Agnivesh. He could have said something out of anger. It's not in our custom to rebut against anything that an elderly says. He is a good person and we all respect him.”
Agnivesh has claimed that money collected for Hazare's agitation was deposited in the trust run by Arvind Kejriwal from which the names of major team members were missing. He had alleged that Kejriwal has siphoned off over Rs 80 lakh. He claimed that Hazare does not have his name in the PCRF run by Kejriwal.
Asked about his reaction to this allegation, Sisodia said “We have already requested members at the core committee meeting held in Ralegan Siddhi to be trustee of the PCRF and we have invited them.”
He said they had announced in the Ramlila Maidan that the donations were being collected in name of PCRF.
He also dismissed as “baseless” allegations that Hazare was upset with the team members.
Sisodia said Anna was aware that donations were coming to the foundation and nothing was hidden from him. He also dismissed suggestion that key member of Team Anna Prashant Bhushan's picture was missing from posters in the Agra rally because of his controversial comments on Kashmir. “These are all wrong interpretations. There are others members whose pictures were not there. Agra rally had photos of only those who were to address the rally”, he said.
