<p>Ruffled by yoga guru Ramdev’s overtures to garner support among the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) allies, the Congress core committee discussed the issue in its meeting on Friday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Ramdev, who has been campaigning on the black money issue for quite some time now, succeeded in securing support of the Nationalist Congress Party led by Sharad Pawar and the Rashtriya Lok Dal of Ajit Singh. In fact, so impressed was Singh with the Yoga guru following their meeting on Friday that he lauded Ramdev for sensitising the mass on black money. <br /><br />In the core group meeting attended by Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, Congress leaders discussed ways to prevent Ramdev and Team Anna from cornering the party by creating rifts within the ruling alliance, sources said.<br /><br />Until recently, the anti-graft activists rubbed shoulders with the right wing parties, thus giving the Congress ample window to lambast them for allegedly supporting the Hindutva agenda.<br /><br />Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh also criticised BJP president Nitin Gadkari for touching Ramdev’s feet recently. “It was not a meeting between a politician and a spiritual leader but between two influential businessmen,” Singh remarked.<br /><br />Following his meeting with Ajit Singh, Ramdev revealed that he has also sought appointments with Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister to evolve a consensus on the issue, which came as a surprise especially after the yoga guru’s relations with the Centre soured after he was evicted from the Ramlila grounds in a late night crackdown by the police. Meetings with Left leaders and other UPA allies are also on the cards, Ramdev added.<br /><br />Congress sources have confirmed that Gandhi will consider meeting Ramdev if a request is made. The government has already tabled a white paper on black money in the last session of Parliament.<br /><br />Besides the growing clout of the anti-graft activists, the core group also discussed the Andhra Pradesh High Court order quashing the government’s move to carve a 4.5 per cent sub-quota for the Muslims within the 27 per cent OBC quota. The government has decided to challenge the ruling.<br /><br />The Trinamool Congress opposition to the amended Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, 2011, also featured in the meeting.</p>
<p>Ruffled by yoga guru Ramdev’s overtures to garner support among the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) allies, the Congress core committee discussed the issue in its meeting on Friday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Ramdev, who has been campaigning on the black money issue for quite some time now, succeeded in securing support of the Nationalist Congress Party led by Sharad Pawar and the Rashtriya Lok Dal of Ajit Singh. In fact, so impressed was Singh with the Yoga guru following their meeting on Friday that he lauded Ramdev for sensitising the mass on black money. <br /><br />In the core group meeting attended by Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, Congress leaders discussed ways to prevent Ramdev and Team Anna from cornering the party by creating rifts within the ruling alliance, sources said.<br /><br />Until recently, the anti-graft activists rubbed shoulders with the right wing parties, thus giving the Congress ample window to lambast them for allegedly supporting the Hindutva agenda.<br /><br />Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh also criticised BJP president Nitin Gadkari for touching Ramdev’s feet recently. “It was not a meeting between a politician and a spiritual leader but between two influential businessmen,” Singh remarked.<br /><br />Following his meeting with Ajit Singh, Ramdev revealed that he has also sought appointments with Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister to evolve a consensus on the issue, which came as a surprise especially after the yoga guru’s relations with the Centre soured after he was evicted from the Ramlila grounds in a late night crackdown by the police. Meetings with Left leaders and other UPA allies are also on the cards, Ramdev added.<br /><br />Congress sources have confirmed that Gandhi will consider meeting Ramdev if a request is made. The government has already tabled a white paper on black money in the last session of Parliament.<br /><br />Besides the growing clout of the anti-graft activists, the core group also discussed the Andhra Pradesh High Court order quashing the government’s move to carve a 4.5 per cent sub-quota for the Muslims within the 27 per cent OBC quota. The government has decided to challenge the ruling.<br /><br />The Trinamool Congress opposition to the amended Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, 2011, also featured in the meeting.</p>
