To prevent the fast,Govt works hard on Babas menu

The Ministers decided that they would hold a focused meeting with Ramdev tomorrow and explain to him,point by point,the steps taken so far and those which could be taken to address the issues he had raised,especially on black money.

Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar,his designated successor Ajit Kumar Seth and Home Secretary Gopal Pillai too were present.

The Governments task is cut out given what Baba Ramdev is asking for from demanding that black money be declared as national property through an ordinance,declaring the act of stashing money abroad as rajdroh or national crime,a ban on land acquisition to death penalty for the corrupt and doing away with Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.

If Baba Ramdev is serious about issues raised by him and if the government is serious about following them,then there should be no difficulty in solving them, Sahay told reporters after the meeting. In fact,he met Ramdev late tonight his second meeting with the Baba today to brief him on the days developments.

Sources did not rule out the possibility of a fresh government committee to address Ramdevs demands. Also,sources said,a draft agreement had been firmed up that spelt out the steps the government could take in the event of Ramdev calling off his fast.

The meeting of Ministers was preceded by one of the core group headed by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi at Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs residence. This meeting,sources said,discussed the negative signal sent out in the way the government was treating Ramdev and how four top ministers rushed to brief him at the airport.

But,sources said,it appeared that the leadership had decided not to be apologetic. We are political persons. We are a political party. What is wrong in talking to Baba Ramdev and holding discussions with him?, said a senior minister.

These two meetings were preceded by backchannel negotiations in which Sahay met Ramdev separately. A team led by the Cabinet Secretary also met him and handed over a note listing the steps taken by the government to unearth black money as well as action on corruption. It was suggested to the guru that he could read up the material given to him before tomorrows meeting.

That backchannel talks were yielding some results was evident when Ramdev,slated to hold a formal press conference this afternoon,cancelled it. His aides cited the serious dialogue between Ramdev and the government as a reason and said that the Baba would now do so tomorrow to (give an) update on (the) conclusive outcome.

Ramdev,however,maintained that he would go ahead with his programme as scheduled. We have been engaged in deliberations on two fronts. First,with experts on different subjects of national importance. Second,with the government, Tijarawala,his aide,told The Indian Express.

Meanwhile,in a bid to paper over the differences between the two sets of activists,Anna Hazare,a member of the Lokpal Bill drafting committee,announced his support to Ramdev and said he would join the fast on June 5.

A discordant note,though,was struck by alliance partners of the UPA. Trinamool Congress leader and Minister of State for Health and Trinamool leader Dinesh Trivedi today criticised the government for bending over backwards. Here is a person who comes in his jet plane,lands at Delhi airport and almost the entire Cabinet goes. Why do they go? he said,speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function in the capital. We have got one out of four hungry in India. We are not bothered about these hungry people,but we are concerned about somebody who is going to go hungry for three days, he said.

Another UPA partner,the NCP,is also reported to have conveyed its disapproval to the Congress. For once,Digvijaya Singh is right about what he has said about Ramdev. It is not done in a democracy, said a senior NCP leader.