M A I N   N E W S

Govt reaches out, Team Anna rejects proposal
Says offer doesn’t meet any demand, wants govt to accept Jan Lokpal Bill or quit
Tribune News Service & PTI

New Delhi, August 21
Seeking to break the deadlock, the government tonight reached out to Anna Hazare by sending a proposal to him which met with a negative response with Team Anna saying there was nothing new in it.

The government’s overture came after it had opened back channels to reach out to Anna who is on the sixth day of his indefinite fast over the Lokpal issue. A top Maharashtra bureaucrat, Additional Chief Secretary Umesh Chandra Sarangi, who knows Anna well, met the 74-year-old social activist twice today -- the third in the last 24 hours. Another intermediary was said to be Indore-based spiritual leader Baiyujji Maharaj, who met Hazare and Union Minister Kapil Sibal.

A proposal of which no details were made public was conveyed to Anna but tonight his associate Arvind Kejriwal said there was nothing new in it and none of the demands of the team had been met. “We have received a proposal from the government which is nothing but the government’s Lokpal Bill. None of our demands have been included. There is no agreement between civil society and government,” he told Anna's supporters amid reports that the government had sought four months’ time to work out a consensus on the Lokpal issue.

In his third meeting tonight, Sarangi is reported to have carried an amended proposal of the government. After his meetings, Baiyujji said “initial” talks had taken place between him and Sibal and Anna. “Views of all should be considered and it should be seen which issues are important. There should be no objection to it. Besides, all view points should be considered in a positive manner,” Baiyujji, who is known to several top politicians from Maharashtra, told TV channels.

Anna, who earlier in the day had expressed his willingness to have a dialogue on the Lokpal issue with the government, upped the ante tonight when he warned of “unprecedented revolution” in the country if the Jan Lokpal Bill was not passed by August 30.

He stepped up his attack on the government by asking it to introduce his Lokpal Bill in Parliament or “quit”. Addressing a huge gathering that had thronged the Ramlila Maidan, Anna said the government was not honest about fighting corruption as its Bill was “useless”. Announcing the launch of a nation-wide agitation on August 30, he asked the people to be ready for a “long struggle”.

As the sixth day of his fast was marked by massive rallies across the country, Anna also cautioned the government against trying to extinguish the fire, ignited by his agitation, or calling his supporters “outsiders”. The tone and tenor of his address virtually rendered meaningless the developments that had taken place earlier in the day raising the hope for a renewed dialogue between Team Anna and the government. Both Team Anna and the government had expressed their readiness for a dialogue, though putting stiff conditions. “The doors are still open for the talks, they are not closed,” Anna had told his supporters in the morning.

Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Chairman of the Standing Committee which is examining the Lokpal Bill, had said the committee “shares people’s concerns over corruption” and could surprise all those sceptical about the entire exercise. The sentiments of Anna and Singhvi had come close on the heels of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement yesterday that there was still a lot of hope for “give and take” on the Bill. However, the stumbling block to the dialogue process was their refusal to budge an inch from their stated positions. Team Anna’s offer for talks came with a rider: the government must withdraw its Bill from Parliament in order to create an “atmosphere of trust”.

On the other hand, Singhvi insisted that the Standing Committee should be allowed to do its work. ote Give the Standing Committee a chance. Allow us to do our work. We may collectively surprise all those who are sceptical,” he told reporters. Swami Agnivesh, a member of Team Anna’s core committee, said the government should appoint a negotiator for the talks, but maintained that the only way forward was government accepting the Jan Lokpal Bill. Team Anna’s core committee also held a meeting today to take stock of the situation and chalk out its strategy for the coming days.

The meeting was attended by Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Manish Sisodia, besides social activist Medha Patkar. Meanwhile, Anna’s supporters held a “maharally” from the historic India Gate to the Ramlila Ground. Reports from Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore and other parts of the country also spoke of swelling support for the anti-corruption movement.

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