Hectic back-channel efforts were on till late on Thursday night to persuade the yoga guru from going ahead with his indefinite hunger strike

Even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi met in the Capital to find ways to dissuade Baba Ramdev, the yoga guru appears determined to go ahead with his proposed hunger strike for purging corruption from society. The saffron-clad sanyasi, who has thousands of middle class followers for his yogic and healing powers is also getting support from not only the political class, but also from spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.


Ready for it?u00a0Baba Ramdev at the Ramlila Grounds. File pic

Guessing game
With less than 24-hours remaining for the so called satyagraha of Baba Ramdev, hectic developments through the past few days have left the common man guessing. Questions have been raised at various points whether the second civil society agitation against corruption within three months will actually happen or not. Visibly, all the key players - the government, Baba Ramdev and his team, Anna Hazare and members of civil society and various political parties - kept a close eye on each others moves on Thursday, waiting to react. The Congress party and the UPA government have continued to make contradictory statements. Analysts say it could be strategy.

Anna supports
Gandhian Anna Hazare, who had gone on a fast in April to press for a strong anti-graft Lokpal Bill, extended his support to the yoga guru. But he cautioned him against "government tactics". He also denied rifts between him and Ramdev. Ramdev, who enjoys a huge following for offering cures for many lifestyle-related diseases, including cancer, through yoga, is to go on a fast from Saturday in New Delhi's sprawling Ramlila Ground to demand measures to curb corruption and bring back black money stashed abroad.

Where's baba?
Although Ramdev's close associates said that the yoga guru was determined to go on the hunger strike, there was no news of the Baba himself after his morning appearance in Gurgaon, bordering Delhi. Through the day, government tried to persuade him through back-channels.

As the government feared a repeat of the Anna Hazare-like mass movement in the country or one even bigger than that as Ramdev has a bigger fan following, the Congress core committee met at prime minister's 7 Race Course Road residence to find urgent ways to address the issue. The meeting was attended by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P Chidambaram and other senior leaders. The committee decided to dispel all impressions that there were differences between the government and the party over the strategy to deal with Ramdev's agitation, sources said. The government is hopeful it will be able to persuade the yoga guru as Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal is scheduled to meet Ramdev Friday.

Talking tough
The government has decided that senior ministers, especially Pranab Mukherjee, will not meet him again for further talks. The decision came after a meeting of the Congress core committee in Delhi yesterday evening.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal has said he will meet Baba Ramdev today and the talks will continue. "As politicians we have to meet people. This shouldn't be seen as weakness. If the government is serious and Ramdev is serious, there should be no problem in resolving the issue," he said. Kapil Sibal and Subodh Kant Sahay are also likely to meet with Baba Ramdev.