‘Country not ready for anti-graft party’

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Former Lokayukta Justice N. Santosh Hegde said a political party floated to fight corruption, will not succeed in elections in India as money power and cultural, linguistic and religious factors play a part in deciding who the winner is. “It is not as if everybody looks at (elections) only from a democratic point of view. A section of voters have got used to money being spent on them. It will take quite some time before we are able to change the attitude of these voters to elections,’’ he said.

While an anti-corruption campaign is a good ground to fight elections, it is doubtful if one can win a poll by only harping on corruption in the next 10-12 years, he said. He also referred to his opposition to the idea of floating an all India party and said it was not ‘child's play’. “To find 543 plus candidates for the Lok Sabha elections is going to be a tremendous effort. Getting candidates in all constituencies would not be a problem as some people would definitely apply because of Anna Hazare's reputation. However the question is what kind of people will apply for seats,’’ he said.

Indicating that the proposed political party of Team Anna may not succeed, Justice Hegde said one should learn from history and referred to Swatantra Party and Praja Socialist Party which did not last long. "If you want to bring about a change, it may have to be within the system itself", he said.

He argued that instead of starting a political party, the erstwhile Team Anna should have approached the issue in a "much tactical manner" -- they could have fielded candidates in 10-20 constituencies where they had substantial support and sent them to Parliament. "It will make a lot of difference. But then there are people who want quick results, that's a problem", Justice Hegde said, in a apparent dig at some members of the team who are bent on floating the party.

On BJP leader L.K. Advani pitching for fixed terms and simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, Justice Hegde said: "I agree with him because of the fact that expenses will be much less and national waste of time will be much less.”