New Delhi: There has been no breakthrough in the talks between yoga guru Baba Ramdev and the Union Government over the former's proposed fast against corruption and black money.
The almost four-hour long meeting between Ramdev and the Government represented by Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal and Union Tourism Minister at Delhi's The Claridges hotel on Friday ended with the yoga guru announcing that his satyagraha from June 4 would continue.
Sibal said the government has given a written charter to his demands but problems raised by Ramdev cannot be solved in one day.
"We have given a written assurance on the issues he raised. The talks will continue and it is upto Ramdev on what he has to say. We don't expect these issues can be resolved today itself. They have long term implications," said Sibal after the meeting.
Ramdev said that there has been no breakthrough and added that his satyagraha would continue. "We will meet at the Ramlila Ground tomorrow (Saturday)," Ramdev told the waiting media personnel outside the five-star hotel.
After the meeting Sibal and Sahay went to brief Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about their talks with Ramdev. The Prime Minister also spoke to President Pratibha Patil on the on-going dialogue with Ramdev.
The yoga guru has announced that he will launch his fast over the issue of bringing back all the black money stashed by Indians in foreign banks and corruption on June 4 at New Delhi's Ramlila Ground.
However, Ramdev has already hinted of a consensus on the issue and claimed that the Government has agreed to most of his demands.
He had held talks with a group of ministers led by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday soon after he landed at the Delhi airport. Mukherjee was accompanied Sibal, Sahay and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal. Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrasekhar was also present at the meeting.
Earlier, on Friday he addressed a mammoth gathering at Delhi's Ramlila Ground and demanded that those involved in corruption cases and accused of stashing black money should be tried in fast-track courts and should get death sentence if found guilty. Calling people accused of corruption and of accumulating black money as traitors, Ramdev said that India can once again become a superpower if the Government tackles the problem on war footing.
Ramdev said that the slogan of his movement is: "Remove corruption, bring back black money."
"There is a movement against corruption in the entire country and the entire country is joining hands. Our agenda is to bring back the black money and the country be saved from corruption. People inspired by this movement are fasting tomorrow. It is our constitutional right," said Ramdev.
He said that the judiciary was burdened with crores of cases and so would not be able to handle corruption and black money related cases.
"Our courts have a backlog of 3.5 crore cases and corruption and black money cases are being heard by the same courts. We should have separate courts to deal with corruption cases and exemplary punishment should be meted to the culprits. They should be given death sentence. They should be hanged to death," he said.
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