As he landed from his charted plane at airport Wednesday afternoon there were no less than four Cabinet Ministers, led by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, and the Cabinet Secretary waiting to meet him, thus according him a welcome not reserved for even the most powerful VVIPs.
But the two and a half hour conversation at the airport that followed yielded no result, with Ramdev, who now runs a multi-million dollar yoga and health empire, saying he was determined to go ahead with his hunger strike as part of his campaign against black money from June 4, as what he wanted was “action on all issues raised by him, not promises.”
Following failure of talks with RSS backed Baba, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday night held a meeting with his cabinet colleagues who had earlier tried to persuade yoga guru Baba Ramdev to withdraw his call for an indefinite fast from June 4.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee , Home Minister P Chidambaram and HRD Minister Kapil Sibal briefed Singh on their discussions with Ramdev during the meeting that lasted over an hour.
The leaders are also understood to have discussed the yoga guru’s proposals and ways to defuse the situation.
Cabinet Secretary K M Chandraseker and Principal Secretary to the PM T K A Nair were also present in the meeting in which Singh was briefed about the parleys held Ramdev.
on airport those present at the interaction with the yoga guru, which started just after 1 p.m., included — apart from Mr. Mukherjee — Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay and Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrashekhar.
“During the conversation, Swami Ramdevji raised a broad range of very important and significant national issues… that impact on the future of our country,” Sibal said. “We listened to him. We also prima facie responded to him and we will meet each other and have another dialogue in the next couple of days.” To another question, he responded, “I’m sure that as we are a responsive government, we will take all those issues which were raised and this is all I have to say as of now.” Later in the day, Home Minister P. Chidambaram — who was not at the airport meeting — told journalists that the next meeting with Baba Ramdev would be on June 3.
Baba Ramdev, who arrived from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, was earlier scheduled to meet Mr. Mukherjee, who has been deputed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to talk to him, at his office in North Block. Later, there was a change of plan.
Meanwhile, hectic preparations were on at Delhi’s Ramlila ground — including setting up a giant tent to accommodate 20,000 people who, Baba Ramdev hopes, will accompany him on his fast from June 4.