Daijiworld Media Network

New Delhi, Aug 23: As the sun dawned on the eighth day of fast by civil society activist Anna Hazare Tuesday August 23, the government seemed to relent a little, with the Prime Minister himself appealing to Anna to end his fast and expressing in a letter that the government was willing to consider the Jan Lokpal Bill.

In a letter addressed to Anna Hazare, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed deep concerns about Anna's health, and said that the government will ask the Lok Sabha speaker to refer civil society's version of the Jan Lokpal Bill before the Standing Committee of Parliament and even ask it to speed up the procedure. He, however, declined to set a deadline for the passing of the Bill.

He also said that the Standing Committee is open to discussions on all versions of the Bill, including suggestions made by Aruna Roy, before drafting the final version.

"I have made it clear earlier and would like to restate that all options are open before the Standing Committee. Undoubtedly, they would be entitled to consider, in detail and clause by clause, subject to their discretion, not only the Bill introduced by us but the Jan Lokpal Bill and other versions like those prepared by Ms. Aruna Roy. Equally, I do maintain that they are fully entitled to make any changes to the Bill introduced by the Govt. and referred to them," stated the letter.

The letter further states, "In view of the concern repeatedly expressed by your team that the Jan Lokpal Bill version should be before Parliament, but more particularly and more importantly, in view of my deep and abiding concern for your health, our government is prepared to request the Speaker, Lok Sabha to formally refer the Jan Lokpal Bill also to the Standing Committee for their holistic consideration along with everything else."

Treading a middle path, the Prime Minister also reiterated that parliamentary supremacy and constitutional obligations in matters of legislation should be kept in mind.

Meanwhile, the government deputed Pranab Mukherjee to head the talks with Team Anna. He opened talks in his North Block office with Team Anna's key members - Prashant Bhushan, Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi. Mukherjee was assisted by Law Minister Salman Khurshid and Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit. 

Determined to break the deadlock, the Congress pulled out all stops to end the row and appealed for "flexibility and restraint" from all stakeholders on the Lokpal bill. The United Progressive Alliance government called an all-party meeting on Wednesday to break the logjam. Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh amid intensified efforts to find common ground on the contentious Lokpal bill.