New Delhi: With less than 24 hours to go Baba Ramdev continues to be adamant about going ahead with his fast against corruption. He kept Cabinet Ministers Kapil Sibal and Subodh Kanth Sahay waiting on Friday while he was addressing a press conference at the Ramlila Grounds. Congress had sent the two ministers to pacify the yoga guru.
Several cabinet ministers on Friday cancelled their scheduled visits, including Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee who is leading the government team to hold talks with him.
Mukherjee cancelled his scheduled trip to Kolkata to take part in the negotiations to persuade Ramdev from going ahead with his indefinite fast, official sources said. Law Minister Veerappa Moily, who was to fly to Mangalore, also scrapped his plans apparently for the same reason.
Hectic back-channel efforts were on to placate Ramdev, who has raised issues of black money and corruption, as the government is keen to avert an Anna Hazare-like protest on the streets. Close aides of Ramdev said even if the government concedes to all the demands, the satyagraha will take place for three days at least.
He called people like Hasan Ali Khan who have stashed black money worth several crores in foreign bank as the enemy of the country. He started his speech by thanking the people for the "overwhelming support" to his movement against corruption and black money.
Ramdev also announced that he will launch his fast against corruption and to bring back black money stashed by Indians in foreign banks from June 4. He said that will start his fast from 7 am on Saturday which will continue till 9 pm.
With Additional Inputs from Agencies
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