Seeking to break the deadlock, Government tonight reached out to Anna Hazare by sending a proposal to him which met with a negative response with Team Anna saying there was nothing new in it.
The Government's overture came after it opened back channels to reach out to Hazare who is on the sixth day of his indefinite fast over the Lokpal issue.
A top Maharashtra bureaucrat Additional Chief Secretary Umesh Chandra Sarangi, who knows Hazare well, met the 73-year -old social activist twice today--the third in the last 24 hours. Another intermediary was said to be Indore-based spiritual leader Baiyujji Maharaj, who met Hazare and Union Minister Kapil Sibal.
A proposal of which no details were made public was conveyed to Hazare but Sunday night his associate Arvind Kejriwal said there was nothing new in it and none of the demands of the team have been met.
"We have received a proposal from the government which is nothing but the Government's Lokpal Bill. None of our demands have been included. There is no agreement between civil society and government," he told Hazare's supporters amid reports government sought four months time to work out a consensus on the Lokpal issue.
In his third meeting tonight, Sarangi is reported to have carried an amended proposal of the Government.
After his meetings, Baiyujji said "initial" talks have taken place between him and Sibal and Hazare.
"Views of all should be considered and it should be seen which issues are important. There should be no objection to it. Besides all view points should be considered in a positive manner," Baiyujji, who is known to several top politicians from Maharashtra, told TV channels.
Hazare, who earlier on Sunday expressed his willingness to have a dialogue on the Lokpal issue with the Government, upped the ante in the night when he warned of "unprecedented revolution" in the country if Lokpal Bill is not passed by August 30. Raising his voice, he said the Government will have to "either get the Bill passed or go."
A day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stated that the Government was open for discussion, Hazare said his campaign against corruption has not closed the door of dialogue with it to resolve the differences on Lokpal bill.
"We have not closed the door of dialogue. We have kept it open. Only through dialogue the issues can be resolved. The people in the government have not come from England. They are our own people but they have turned into traitors," he told thousands of his supporters on a humid day at Ramlila Ground on the sixth day of his fast.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Harish Rawat said the Centre has initiated a dialogue process with Team Anna at various levels to break the deadlock.
"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 complementary to each other," Rawat said.
The core committee of 'India Against Corruption' had a meeting during which its deliberated Prime Minister's readiness to hold discussions. It said no proposal has come from the government so far.
Both Hazare and Kejriwal also asked their supporters to hold dharnas in front of houses of MPs in their constituencies and demand written commitments in support of Jan Lokpal Bill.
"The dharna should also cover Ministers and leaders of various political parties," they said.
Swami Agnivesh, one of the members of Team Anna's core committee, said government should appoint a negotiator to hold talks with Hazare on the Jan Lokpal Bill and withdraw its draft from Parliament to create "an atmosphere of trust".
He said they were open for talks but the government should create an atmosphere for it.
"If the government wants to talk to us it should appoint a negotiator," he said.
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