Schoolgirls snack at the Ramlila Maidan on Thursday. Picture by Rajesh Kumar

New Delhi, Aug. 25: The Prime Minister today sent former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to talk to Anna Hazare directly because the government suspects that some of the Gandhian’s aides are misleading him on facts and the Centre’s intentions.

Sources said the government wanted Hazare to understand the exact sense of what happened in the Lok Sabha today and the exceptional honour bestowed on him by the Prime Minister, who saluted him and applauded his role in highlighting the scourge of corruption.

Deshmukh, now a Union minister, was sent with the brief to explain to Hazare in Marathi the entire speech of the Prime Minister. Deshmukh denied he had been appointed “negotiator” and claimed he went in his personal capacity as he had known Hazare for a long time and had a certain rapport with him.

A Congress leader, however, said: “Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi had convinced Hazare that the government had taken an antagonistic position and would not have conveyed to him the Prime Minister’s message in the correct perspective. Sending someone who enjoyed Hazare’s trust was important, and so Deshmukh was chosen.”

Deshmukh spoke to Hazare one-to-one for 20 minutes, during which he explained how much importance the Gandhian had been given in the Lok Sabha. The minister told Hazare he must reciprocate by ending his fast.

Hazare, who had been calling the ministers “lutere” (looters) and “kale angrez” (evil foreigners) did not show any hostility at the meeting, sources said. Deshmukh may again be used for direct communication with Hazare.

The Centre has been suspicious about the role of Kejriwal and Bedi at a time senior ministers have appreciated comments made by other Hazare aides such as Santosh Hegde and Swami Agnivesh, who have said Hazare should end his fast. Kejriwal and Bedi, on the other hand, created a frenzy yesterday by claiming police were planning to lift Hazare out of the venue in the middle of the night.

Many Congress MPs have been concerned at the “false propaganda” by Kejriwal and Bedi on the government’s intentions and on the nature of the engagement between the two sides.

The subject cropped up at today’s meeting of the Congress Party in Parliament, where MPs rued the failure to counter attempts to portray the party as corrupt and create an impression that all the MPs were looters.

Information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni later said every MP was angry at the role of the media, whom they saw as attaching too much significance to one side’s point of view and failing to present the whole picture.

“I appeal to the media to try and realise its strength. If this strength is misused or utilised in propagating only one-sided views, then the nation may suffer,” Soni said.

“The government is liberal and none of us wants to go against any provision of the Constitution. The media enjoys full rights, but that should not mean that you don’t remain objective.”

Many MPs expressed anguish in private about Hazare’s call to picket at their residences. “They are saying it is a peaceful agitation. I have been receiving abuses, get-well-soon messages and threats every day on my mobile,” a Congress MP from Maharashtra said.

“People gather at my residence and call me ‘thief’ and say ‘don’t ask for votes in future’. Isn’t this violence? Are we all thieves? When Manish Tiwari called Hazare corrupt, they made it into such a big issue... they are now calling ministers frauds and cheats every day.”

Tiwari, who had almost gone missing after his diatribe evoked strong emotions and threats, surfaced today to express regret.

“I know some of my recent utterances have caused hurt to Mr Hazare. I regret the same. In the course of political cut and thrust, certain things are inadvertently said, which cause pain,” he said.