Govt pacifies Ramdev, talks tough to Anna

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has made an appeal to yoga guru Ramdev to call off his fast against black money. The appeal came after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee wrote to Ramdev on the efforts taken by the government to combat black money.
While the government has been aggressively pacifying Baba Ramdev, Anna Hazare has been hearing some straight talk from the government.
At the heart of the dispute is whether the Prime Minister should come under the purview of the Lokpal Bill. While Anna and most of his team remain adamant on that demand, Baba Ramdev has shown some flexibility by saying that the Prime Minister and higher judiciary should be kept away from the Lokpal purview.
"All people holding constitutional posts should come under the Lokpal Bill. The inclusion of the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India is a tricky question. If questions are raised on the integrity of a person sitting at the head of a democracy, then how will democracy survive? And if you doubt the head of the judicial system then how can you assume that the Lokayukta will be more honest?" Ramdev said.
These words by Baba Ramdev were like music to the ears of the UPA, which has been working overtime to break the ranks of the civil society groups. Within no time, the yoga guru's statement was interpreted by the government nominees on the Lokpal group of ministers as a split within the civil society.
Home Minister P Chidambram said, "There is no unanimity within the civil rights groups themselves on the crucial question of the Prime Minister being kept within the Lokpal or not."
Having paid a price for one fast, the government is edgy over Ramdev. Government sources are confident of stopping Ramdev and that they won't get it wrong again.
The BJP too got into the act with the party president writing a letter to the Prime Minister asking him to consider Ramdev's blackmoney campaign seriously. However, the BJP also stated that it was in favour of the Prime Minister being brought under the ambit of the Lokpal Bill.
BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said, "When Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister, he said that the Prime Minister should be brought under the ambit of Lokpal."
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has now written to all state Chief Ministers seeking their views on the matter. This comes as an indication that the government believes it has the upper hand in this battle.