Sonia meets PM, discusses Lokpal Bill

Congress President Sonia Gandhi today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and discussed the stalemate on the issue of an effective Lokpal Bill for which Gandhian Anna Hazare has launched a campaign.

Ministers Pranab Mukherjee and Kapil Sibal, Political Secretary to Congress President Ahmed Patel and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister T K A Nair were also present at the meeting, party sources said.

The meeting comes a day after Gandhi appealed to Hazare to end his fast, which entered the fourth day today, assuring him that his views would receive the government's full attention.

Stepping up his anti-corruption campaign, Hazare yesterday brushed aside Gandhi's appeal to him to withdraw his hunger strike as the government initiated talks on formation of a joint committee to draft an effective Lokpal Bill but there was no consensus on two crucial aspects.

A meeting of Sibal with activists Swami Agnivesh and Arvind Kejriwal scheduled this morning did not take place as both sides said they were waiting for each other. The meeting is now scheduled at 6 PM.