<p>“The government is watching the situation closely whether the protest, which is at present confined to only major cities, may spill out to smaller places,” a senior Cabinet minister told Deccan Herald.<br /><br />Home Minister P Chidambaram is trying to contact some of the social activists from Pune as well as civil right activist Swami Agnivesh, former Supreme Court judge Santosh Hegde and Art of Living Sri Sri Ravishankar to start negotiation with Team Anna to end the fasting at the earliest.<br /><br />With intelligence agencies warning the government a prolonged protest could pull more crowds across the country, the Centre is mulling to constitute a high-level committee to negotiate with Anna’s team.<br /><br />However, the government, which had forcefully thwarted protest of Yoga guru Baba Ramdev on June 5, will not repeat the same this time fearing backlash from the public, said the minister.<br /><br />It is learnt that the government has decided to keep Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal away from negotiation process as Anna had openly criticised him.<br /><br />Dismissing the possible early wrapping of fasting, Arvind Kejriwal, a close associate of Hazare, said: “Though both Delhi Police and Team Anna agreed on a 15-day fasting, it can be reviewed and the protest can be prolonged depending on what the government does on the demands put forward by Hazare.<br /><br />Another associate Kiran Bedi said the Delhi Police Commissioner has agreed to grant them further extension if asked for. “There is no ban on number of days. All restrictive conditions have been removed. We have got an open permission to hold peaceful protest,” Bedi said.</p>
<p>“The government is watching the situation closely whether the protest, which is at present confined to only major cities, may spill out to smaller places,” a senior Cabinet minister told Deccan Herald.<br /><br />Home Minister P Chidambaram is trying to contact some of the social activists from Pune as well as civil right activist Swami Agnivesh, former Supreme Court judge Santosh Hegde and Art of Living Sri Sri Ravishankar to start negotiation with Team Anna to end the fasting at the earliest.<br /><br />With intelligence agencies warning the government a prolonged protest could pull more crowds across the country, the Centre is mulling to constitute a high-level committee to negotiate with Anna’s team.<br /><br />However, the government, which had forcefully thwarted protest of Yoga guru Baba Ramdev on June 5, will not repeat the same this time fearing backlash from the public, said the minister.<br /><br />It is learnt that the government has decided to keep Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal away from negotiation process as Anna had openly criticised him.<br /><br />Dismissing the possible early wrapping of fasting, Arvind Kejriwal, a close associate of Hazare, said: “Though both Delhi Police and Team Anna agreed on a 15-day fasting, it can be reviewed and the protest can be prolonged depending on what the government does on the demands put forward by Hazare.<br /><br />Another associate Kiran Bedi said the Delhi Police Commissioner has agreed to grant them further extension if asked for. “There is no ban on number of days. All restrictive conditions have been removed. We have got an open permission to hold peaceful protest,” Bedi said.</p>
