After the Hissar by-poll result, one would have thought that Team Anna would celebrate in a grand manner. It did celebrate, but only to find two key members quitting, Kiran Bedi facing some unusual allegations, the Income-Tax department's reminder to Arvind Kejriwal and Swami Agnivesh seeking transparency in the accounts of Team Anna. Needless to mention the slipper hurling at Kejriwal.

Team Anna is defending itself, but somehow the voices do not seem very convincing. At least the opinions on Face Book said so. Analysts feel that the role reversal of the media is making life difficult for the team. When one newspaper reported about Bedi's air tickets, others followed up with details and even displayed the page of a particular Web site showing that Bedi is even not a donor to her own NGO.

So, why has the media changed its tone? Arrogance, a senior political journalist remarked. Another feels that favouring a particular media house in terms of news has invited trouble. There is also a joke going around which says that the Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh is unhappy and does not want to give a sound byte on Anna or his team. Reason: Anna is observing ‘ Maun Vrat ,' Prashant Bhushan is away in the US while others present India are busy defending themselves, so there will not be verbal duel, hence no excitement in giving a sound byte. Anna's vrat is for an indefinite period.

Published on October 23, 2011