Govt may let Anna fast at JP Park for 7 days

The negotiations between the Government and Team Anna are still on over the proposed fast against corruption by Anna Hazare.

Sources have told that the government is considering offering Anna Hazare the JP Park as a venue for his fast against corruption for seven days.

According to sources, the government has offered Ramlila Maidan as an alternative venue for protest fast by Anna Hazare and his team. The restrictions on the crowd and vehicles are likely to be removed since Ramlila Maidan is a much larger ground. The Delhi police is likely to withdraw section 144 from JP Park.

DCP Crime Ashok Chand is believed to be negotiating with Team Anna inside the Tihar Jail and has given them two options for the venue - JP Park or Ramlila Grounds.

Top aides of Anna Hazare - Kiran Bedi, Medha Patkar, Swami Agnivesh, Prashant Bhushan, Manish Sisodia and Akhil Gogoi - are with him inside Tihar Jail.

Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar is also a part of the negotiation process underway inside the Tihar Jail. Yoga guru Baba Ramdev was denied permission to enter the jail premises to meet Anna Hazare.

Earlier, sources has told that the government is engaging in back channel talks with Team Anna. The Congress core group met on Wednesday morning over the Anna issue. The Prime Minister, AK Antony, P Chidambaram, Pranab Mukherjee and Ahmed Patel attended the meeting.

"We will find a way out of this impasse," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is believed to have said. The PM also made a statement in Parliament today on the crackdown on Team Anna on Tuesday

Congress core committee to meet over Lokpal issue

With Gandhian activist Anna Hazare refusing to leave the Tihar Jail, the core committee of Congress is to meettoday to finalise its strategy for dealing with the situation.

Anna Hazare was arrested Tuesday ahead of his proposed fast for a stronger anti-corruption law and taken to Tihar Jail. Authorities later declared him free but the Gandhian refused to walk out of the jail until he was allowed to hold his planned fast without any fetters.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and other senior congress leaders attended the party's core committee meeting at 7, Race Course Road, in New Delhi.

Sources say that the Core Group decided to call an all-party meeting on the Lokpal issue, especially to debate the provisions like should the Prime Minister be brought under the ambit of Lokpal or not.

The Core Committee held a meeting yesterday also on these and related issues.

In recent days, the Lokpal issue and the police crackdown on yoga guru Baba Ramdev's camp on the intervening night of June 4-5 have been like an albatross around the government's neck. It had to face a lot of criticism at the hands of the Opposition parties, especially the BJP.

The Core Group was also supposed to discuss the Telangana issue but sources said there was no discussion on Telangana.In April, Jantar Mantar became the base camp for lakhs of Indians who supported Mr Hazare as he fasted for nearly a week.

Satellite protests in cities across India had stumped the government, which agreed to Mr Hazare's demands. He wanted a new law against corruption to be enacted, and he wanted activists who represent civil society to formally draft that law. After arguing that legislation was the prerogative of Parliament, the government gave in. Mr Hazare and four activists, including Mr Kejriwal, formed one half of the Lokpal Bill drafting committee; five senior ministers formed the other.

But of late, the movement has run into rough weather after an impasse between the two sides over drafting the bill. The activists slammed the government accusing it of turning the Lokpal Bill into a "Jokepal Bill.