Talks over Lokpal back to square one: Team Anna

The stand-off between government and Anna Hazare reached a flashpoint on Wednesday night with the talks yielding no breakthrough and the Gandhian's team expressed "disappointment" with the government's "change in attitude".

"There is a difference of day and night between yesterday and today. There has been a change of attitude. The kind of concern they were expressing yesterday was not visible today. It is a totally retrograde," Team Anna member Kiran Bedi told reporters after a meeting with government negotiators.

Accusing the government of involving them only "for the sake of meetings", Bedi said they have gone back to the drafting stage.

"We are back to the position where we were two days ago when no meetings had taken place. The agreement on procedure which appeared reached yesterday has been withdrawn by them," Arvind Kejriwal, another Team Anna member, said.

Expressing disappointment with the meeting, lawyer Prashant Bhushan said that the discussions will have to be started "once again virtually from scratch".

"Unfortunately, we are back to square one. While yesterday there seem to be some progress, today after the meetings of CCPA, Congress Core Group and all party meeting, we seem to be back to square one," he said. The meeting tonight was the fourth Team Anna members had with government negotiators after the informal deliberation between them and Law Minister Salman Khurshid on Tuesday.

As the meeting drew close and it was clear that there was
no immediate agreement, Kejriwal claimed that they asked Ministers Pranab Mukherjee and Salman Khurshid whether the government was contemplating any police action against Hazare.

"We also asked him whether they are going to take any police action against them. They got infuriated and told us not to raise such issues. Then they said they were not competent to answer this question," he said.

Kejriwal said they also sought an answer from the ministers on what should they tell Hazare as he has maintained that he will not end his fast till his demands were met.

"When we asked what we should tell Anna Hazare as he will not end his fast, they said 'let him do whatever he does. If Anna wants to continue with his fast, it is his wish'," he said.

He said the government clearly told them that Jan Lokpal Bill cannot be introduced in Parliament and a new bill has to be drafted and accused the government of having pulled back from the consensus arrived at Tuesday's meeting.

Bhushan said that they had last night raised two demands -- on procedure and timeline and the nature of the bill which has to be placed in Parliament.

"We told them that the bill should incorporate provisions of Jan Lokpal bill and should be passed in this session. On Tuesday it appeared that the government or rather the ministers who were talking to us said that this would sympathetically considered. But today we have been told that the Parliamentary procedures like Standing Committee etc could not be short-circuited. Some timeline can still be adhered to," he said.

He said the government appeared willing to consider the issue of timeline.

'Govt working towards bringing broad national consensus'

In an indication of toughening of its stand, government on Wednesday made it clear to Team Anna that it would not undermine Parliament and its Lokpal Bill, while maintaining that a broad national consensus on the issue has to be found.

After its second meeting in the day with the three-member Hazare team, the government said talks between them have been "positive" and hoped that such circumstances will be created so that the Gandhian will break his fast.

"Talks are going on in a positive manner. We will also have talks tomorrow. The context and priority is Anna's health. We are concerned about his health. We hope to create circumstances and situation to see that Anna breaks his fast," Law Minister Salman Khurshid told reporters after the nearly 90-minute meeting.

"We cannot undermine the official bill passed by the Cabinet. A broad national consensus, as suggested by all parties, needs to be evolved," Khurshid said.

Khurshid also made it clear that the government would not undermine Parliament and its procedures and said, "Each one of us are trying to ensure that a broad national consensus falls in place."

Noting that the talks are headed towards the "right direction", he said the government was trying to bring on board the points raised by friends of Anna Hazare as part of the broad national consensus.

"I hope all issues will be worked out." East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit, who was also present during the talks, said the discussions are progressing "slowly but steadily" and added that the sticky issues would be again discussed on Wednesday.

When asked about the increased police deployment around Ramlila Maidan and any possibility of the government forcibly admitting fasting Hazare in the hospital, Khurshid said he was not aware of any such thing. "It is not for me to comment."