Author: HT Correspondent
Publication: Hindustan Times
Date: June 2, 2011
URL: http://www.hindustantimes.com/rssfeed/NewDelhi/Anna-Hazare-to-join-Ramdev-s-fast-says-Govt-is-cheating-us/Article1-704702.aspx
Ahead of popular yoga guru Baba Ramdev's highly
publicised indefinite fast to demand an end to corruption and black money,
it's not just the government which is worried. Signs of uneasiness are clearly
visible in the Anna Hazare camp too. Faced with a deadlock in the joint panel
drafting the lokpal bill and prospects of Ramdev drawing huge crowds in his
north Indian bastion, Hazare reached out to the yoga guru on Thursday in a
bid to avoid being eclipsed by him.
The Gandhian spent the day in front of TV
cameras, pledging support to Ramdev and dismissing talk of differences with
him on proposed lokpal.
"There are no differences between us
and Swamiji (Ramdev). We completely support his movement and I'll join him
on Sunday for a few hours," Hazare was quoted in a statement issued by
the India Against Corruption outfit led by him.
continued from page 1
Hazare's utterances, despite a show of solidarity
with Ramdev, gave an impression of his discomfiture at the attention the yoga
guru has been getting from the government.
He criticised government's unusual step of
sending as many as four senior ministers, including finance minister Pranab
Mukherjee, to the airport to receive Ramdev and talk to him.
"There was no need for so many ministers
to go. One or two ministers would have been enough. When so many ministers
go, it means there is a plan of fraud. Sign papers, make promises - all this
is to pass time," Hazare said.
"Once the time passes, they (government)
will do what they want. When I went on a fast, it reached such a stage that
the government conceded all our demands to save itself. Now, they have backed
out," Hazare said.
The social activist said his team had been
"cheated" by the government over the issue of brining the Prime
Minister and higher judiciary within the purview of the proposed lokpal's
investigative powers.
"It is a fraud if the government agrees
on certain issues and says the Prime Minister will be accountable to the lokpal
and later backs out," Hazare said.
