Top ministers participated in the meeting after Pranab Mukherjee’s talks with team Anna Hazare on the Lokpal issue.
After the talks, team Hazare members had said government had promised them to come back with its response on certain proposals by Wednesday morning.
Govt-Team Anna hold direct talks on Lokpal issue
Finance Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherejee Tuesday said that the dialogue with Anna team would continue on Wednesday to end deadlock over Lokpal bill.
Talking to reporters after a meeting with the representatives of Team Anna Tuesday evening Mukhrjee said that the dialogue has begun and it will continue.
The two and half hours meeting in which the Government side was represented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Law Minister Salman Khurshid and Member of Parliament from Delhi, Sandeep Dikshit. Anna team was represented by Prashant Bhushan, Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi. The talks were held at North Block.
Earlier, in a related development, the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh wrote a letter to Anna Hazare saying that Jan Lokpal Bill will be presented before the Standing Committee if Lok Sabha Speaker allows so. The Prime Minister said that if Anna Hazare is keen about the time and speed of the passage of the Lokpal bill, Government will formally request the Standing Committee to fast track their deliberations. He urged Anna to break his fast and expressed concern over his health. Dr. Singh assured Anna Hazare that they are together in the fight against corruption.
After three hours of talks, Team Anna said they made it clear to the government that the official Lokpal Bill should either be withdrawn or allowed to lapse and the Jan Lokpal Bill should be introduced and passed in the current session of Parliament by extending it, if necessary.
They also rejected the Prime Minister’s offer to send the Jan Lokpal Bill to the Parliamentary Standing Committee.
“We have told them that it is not acceptable,” Arvind Kejriwal, a top associate of Hazare, told a gathering at Ramlila Maidan where the veteran activist’s fast entered the second week.