The anticorruption activist Anna Hazare said he will not back the formation of a political party by a group of his young supporters, marking a formal split with the former members of Team Anna.
Led by Mr. Hazare, the group of activists, lawyers and former government officials had mounted a tempestuous crusade over the past 18 months to create an independent anticorruption agency. Last month, Mr. Hazare announced the dissolution of Team Anna, leading some political analysts to speculate that he would be forming his own party.
On Wednesday, Mr. Hazare made it clear he would not be doing that. “I will not go for party politics. I will not go for political campaigning at the time of elections,†he sa id after a daylong meeting with his supporters in New Delhi.
He added: “Please do not use my name and photo. I do not like this. You do whatever you want to do on your own.â€
Mr. Hazare made his statement in the presence of a grim-looking Arvind Kejriwal, one of his leading advisers, who was in favor of forming a political party.
“We respect Anna-ji a lot,†Mr. Kejriwal said Thursday in New Delhi. “He is like our father, our guru. Yesterday's decision is very shocking, very painful and very unpredictable to us. It is very unfortunate also.â€
On Twitter, Mr. Kejriwal continued to express his support for Mr. Hazare, saying, “Anna's 5 principles are foundation of our party. Anna's photograph & name are printed in our hearts. V will keep seeking his blessingsâ€.
The split is widely viewed as a serious setback for one of the most powerful anticorruption movements in the past two decades in India.
Ashuto sh, the managing editor of IBN 7, an independent news channel, who wrote a book on the movement, said on Twitter that Mr. Hazare and Mr. Kejriwal complemented each other. “One without other will not be the same,†said Mr. Ashutosh, who goes by one name.
Mr. Hazare, 75, along with Mr. Kejriwal, 44, started the anti-corruption movement in April 2011, demanding an ombudsman to investigate corruption in the government. The movement gained nationwide support last year when Mr. Hazare and Mr. Kejriwal were arrested at the beginning of a protest.
A two-week protest in New Delhi after their arrests, involving tens of thousands of people, resulted in a promise by India's Parliament to form a law to create an anticorruption ombudsman.
But soon after that, differences cropped up within Team Anna. Mr. Kejriwal favored aggressive demands and strong political statements, and he attracted many young followers who demanded fast results. Other members of Team Anna, like the retired Supreme Court justice Santosh Hegde, the retired police officer Kiran Bedi and the environmental activist Medha Patkar were aiming instead for a nonpolitical civil society group.
By December, there was a sense of fatigue within the movement. Attendance at a Mumbai protest that month was less than expected, drawing only a few thousand.
Mr. Kejriwal, along with his band of young supporters, became more aggressive in his demands and staged frequent demonstrations that sharpened his attacks on the political class and political institutions, even holding them in front of politicians' houses. His followers rallied supporters through social media.
After the government presented a weak anticorruption law in Parliament in December, which failed to get approved by Parliament, Mr. Kejriwal eventually declared that forming a political party was the only solution.
Many senior team members and activists opposed going into politics directly, and the dif ference could not be bridged.
The bitterness of the split was evident. Mrs. Bedi said in a Twitter post after the meeting Wednesday: “Feel Anna was being expected to support political option when he was never inclined. Was it a case of misjudgment on the part of some?â€
