New Delhi, Aug. 23 (PTI): The government tonight bought time until tomorrow on the Jan Lokpal Bill, capping a day of hectic discussions after the Centre appointed finance minister Pranab Mukherjee as its negotiator for talks with Anna Hazare’s team.
A concerned Prime Minister also directly reached out to Anna with an appeal to end his fast, which entered the eighth day today, and a promise that his Jan Lokpal Bill could be considered by Parliament along with the government draft.
Rahul Gandhi had a meeting with the Prime Minister at his residence and discussed the strategy.
The ice-breaking development came during the first direct contact between the two sides at the residence of Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit when law minister Salman Khurshid met Hazare-aide Arvind Kejriwal and discussed how to go about the issue.
“Just now Salman Khurshid has invited us for discussions. He has said that Pranab Mukherjee has been appointed by the government to talk to us,” Kejriwal told Hazare’s supporters at Ramlila Maidan, where Hazare is fasting.
He also asked the crowd whether “we should go ahead with talks” and it responded with cheers.
Kejriwal and other key Team Anna members — lawyer Prashant Bhushan and former IPS officer Kiran Bedi — were appointed by Hazare to negotiate with the government.
“The government has requested us for time until tomorrow to discuss the bill with the Prime Minister and other cabinet members and has also asked us to request Anna to call off his fast,” Kejriwal said late tonight after the meeting with Mukherjee and Khurshid. The Team Anna members described the meeting as “fruitful and constructive”.
But they added that it would be difficult to get Hazare to reconsider his fast without a written commitment from the Centre.
In the letter to Hazare, Prime Minister Singh informed him of the talks initiative and appealed to him to end his fast. He also told him that the government was concerned about his health.
The Prime Minister told Hazare that the government would ask the Lok Sabha Speaker if his version of the Lokpal bill can be sent to the standing committee, which is already examining the government’s proposed legislation.
In the letter, Singh said his government’s objective to tackling corruption was “identical” to that of Hazare and was ready to talk to anybody to enact a “constitutionally valid and the best possible Lokpal” while keeping in mind parliamentary supremacy and constitutional obligations.
“Over the last few days, I have watched with increasing concern the state of your health,” he wrote to the civil activist. “Despite the differences between the government and your team, I do not think that anybody is or should be in any doubt about the deep and abiding concern which I and our government share about your health, arising from your continuing fast,” the Prime Minister said.
Hazare, meanwhile, disregarded medical advice to be put on intravenous drip and warned the government against trying to forcibly evict him from Ramlila Maidan.
“If someone from the government comes here to evict me forcibly, you people should go and block the gate. But you should be peaceful,” he said. A team of doctors headed by Naresh Trehan had in the afternoon advised hospitalisation for the activist.
