Govt holds hectic parleys to break Lok Pal logjam

Grappling with an uneasy situation arising out of Anna Hazare's fast, the government today held hectic consultations to break the logjam with Team Anna demanding that it mandate somebody officially to open a dialogue on the Lok Pal issue.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee held talks with senior ministers, including Sharad Pawar and Vilasrao Deshmukh.

Deshmukh, as a former chief minister of Maharasthra, has successfully dealt with the situations arising out of earlier fasts by Hazare in the state.

Maharashtra Additional Chief Secretary UC Sarangi had held three rounds of talks with Hazare in the last few days and has now gone back to Mumbai.

The parleys Mukherjee held with Pawar and Deshmukh come close on the heels of the talks Sarangi, as also spiritual leader Bhaiyyuji Maharaj, had with Hazare. The spiritual leader is considered close to Deshmukh.

The meeting between Mukherjee and the ministers was held soon after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had a detailed meeting with Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee Abhishek Manu Singhvi looking into the Lok Pal Bill earlier today.

Sources said the meeting discussed various options to end the impasse over the issue as Hazare's fast entered the eighth day today.

An all-party meeting has been convened tomorrow to discuss the Lok Pal issue.