Govt Reaches Out As Team Anna Steps Up Campaign As Lakhs March Across India, Anna Tells Govt To Bring Revised Lokpal Bill Or Go

'LAO YA JAO'

All Roads Lead To Annapolis

NewDelhi:The Anna Hazare camp on Sunday stepped up its campaign by demonstrating at the PM's residence and the Gandhian delivering a Lokpal bill "l a o y a j a o (bring Lokpal bill or go)" call while crowd support for the protests swelled dramatically with large turnouts at India Gate and Ramlila Maidan. 

    While the protest gathered steam, there were efforts to resolve the standoff as well with intermediaries meeting telecom minister Kapil Sibal late on Sunday evening. Maharashtra bureaucrat U C Sarangi and longtime Hazare associate Bhayyuji Maharaj met the fasting leader for around 20 minutes earlier in the day and were later with Sibal. 
    Sarangi and Maharaj had taken a summary of the government's Lokpal bill to Hazare which the activists said did not amount to any new proposals. After the meeting with Sibal, campaign leaders said the discussions were of a general nature and no proposal was conveyed to the government. Maharaj said the talks were positive and both sides were flexible. 
    While the government was looking for ways to accommodate the Hazare campaign's demands while also insisting that the parliamentary process could not be short-circuited, massive crowds gathered at India Gate as support for the protest seemed to grow dramatically. 
    Crowds of Hazare supporters continued to swell at Ramlila Maidan and at India Gate, putting paid to the hope in some quarters that the protests would peter out. Team Anna has demanded that Parliament pass their version of the Lokpal bill by August 30. 
    As Hazare gave the call of 'l a o y a j a o' to the government, Sarangi and Bhayyuji Maharaj met the Gandhian with most of his aides absent. This was Sarangi's second meeting with Hazare in the last two days. 
    On the sixth day of Hazare's fast, about 80 people were detained for protesting near the PM's residence. The agitation was not restricted to Delhi alone, with reports that coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal's Kanpur residence was raided by protesters. To his surprise, law minister Salman Khurshid was greeted by black flag-bearing Anna supporters in his Farukkhabad constituency. 
    In response to the government's overtures, Team Anna said they were willing to talk and that a negotiator should be appointed by the government. While Hazare aide Arvind Kejriwal said the government should tell them whom to meet and when, Swami Agnivesh added that the government should introduce the Jan Lokpal bill in Parliament to create an atmosphere of trust.
TALK TIME 
Maharashtra additional chief secretary U C Sarangi and Bhayyuji Maharaj meet Anna Hazare for 15-20 mins at around 4pm 
Sarangi submits a summary of the government Lokpal bill 
Team Anna denies giving any proposal to the two emissaries 
The two also meet telecom minister Kapil Sibal; Maharaj says meeting positive Team Anna ready for talks, not climbdown 
    Swami Agnivesh said, "If the government wants to talk to us, it should appoint a negotiator. We are open for talks. In order to open a door for dialogue… they have to create an atmosphere of trust by withdrawing the government bill from Parliament and introduce the Jan Lokpal bill. We will not budge. This is the least they should do to earn our trust.'' 
    However, it appeared that Team Anna's statements expressing willingness to talk were meant to counter the perception that they were inflexible and rigid while the PM was making attempts at reconciliation. Even as they said they were ready for a dialogue, the group ruled out any possibility of a climbdown from their stated position on inclusion of all bureaucracy, PM and MPs' conduct in Parliament. Even on the issue of judiciary, both Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan said the government must create an independent body to keep tabs on the judiciary and bring the law along with the Jan Lokpal bill. 
    The duo also dismissed Congress MP Pravin Aaron's move to submit the civil society version of Lokpal bill to the standing committee as pointless. "It means nothing…we have already submitted our bill to the committee. Till it is tabled in Parliament… there is no significance,'' Bhushan said. 
    Faced with growing expressions of opposition from the Hazare camp, the government amplified its message that there could be significant changes in the government-approved Lokpal bill. "The dialogue process has already been initiated at various levels through well-wishers. This dialogue is at various levels which is not parallel to each other but complimentary to each other," Harish Rawat, minister of state for parliamentary affairs, said in Dehradun. 
    He said the Lokpal bill was before the standing committee and suggestions could be put before it. He also cited the example of the Right to Information (RTI) Bill where as many as 160 amendments were suggested by the committee. Significantly, all the amendments were accepted, a fact attested by the main architect of the RTI Act Aruna Roy. "We are in favour of bringing Lokpal bill on the lines of RTI bill where nearly 160 amendments were carried by the standing committee,'' Rawat said. Similarly, suggestions of Team Anna can be incorporated in the bill, he said. 
    Meanwhile, Team Anna sought to broaden the ambit of the agitation. On Saturday, Hazare said electoral reforms and land acquisition rights for farmers would be on their agenda. On Sunday, as many as 30 Arjuna awardees also pledged their support to Hazare by speaking out against corruption in sports.

FROM RALEGAN TO RALLYGAON: A huge mass of humanity on the Ranjit Singh flyover in New Delhi on Sunday