Details of Team Anna's party on October 2

The name, as well as the founding members, of the political party to be launched by Anna Hazare and his anti-corruption movement supporters are scheduled to be announced on Gandhi Jayanti (October 2).

It is expected the founding members would include at least a few of the 22 signatories of a memorandum in July, requesting Hazare to end his fast and consider a political alternative. Prashant Bhushan, a key member of the movement, said the signatories had been appro-ached and some had responded positively. He, however, refused to divulge names.

Those who had signed the memorandum include former judges V R Krishna Iyer and Santosh Hegde, former Navy chief Ram Tahiliani, former Army chief V K Singh, former chief election 

commissioner J M Lyngdoh, writer Kuldip Nayyar, actor Anupam Kher, former bureaucrat E A S Sarma, former Union secretary Ramaswamy R Iyer and activists S R Hiremath, Sandeep Pandey and Prafulla Samantara. Earlier, Hegde and Lyngdoh had ruled out joining the political party. E A S Sarma said he had not taken a decision on the issue yet. Bhushan refused to comment on reports of former army chief V K Singh had agreed to join the party.

While some of them are expected to join the party, some are likely to continue with the anti-corruption movement, which is being reconstituted. The party and the movement would complement each other, said a source.

As many were unhappy with the decision to start a political party, it was important to keep the movement intact, as it would draw people to the party, he added.

So far, the India Against Corruption movement had received 17,000 suggestions on the name and the structure of the party and the method of selecting candidates, said a member of the organisation.

Meanwhile, Hazare, who was in Bangalore for a few days, is back in Ralegan Siddhi, Maharashtra, where he is expected to hold a meeting with members of the anti-corruption movement on finalising new members.

Anil Sharma, Hazare's associate, says, "We have received hundreds of letters from ex-servicemen and former senior police officials who want to be part of the movement.