Pranab to meet Ramdev to stop his protest fast

New Delhi: Amid the standoff between the government and Baba Ramdev on the black money row, the yoga guru has threatened to go on indefinite fast from Saturday.

As a last ditch effort by the government to stop Baba Ramdev's protest fast, sources have told CNN-IBN that the government is looking at a meeting between Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Baba Ramdev on the black money issue and I-T irregularities.

Sources also say that the Congress troubleshooter will apprise Baba Ramdev of the steps that the government is taking in this regard.

Ramdev opposes bringing PM under ambit of Lokpal

Meanwhile, differences appeared to have cropped up in the civil society over the demand for inclusion of the Prime Minister and higher judiciary in the Lokpal Bill with Baba Ramdev opposing such a move.

Baba Ramdev has said that he wants that the Prime Minister and the higher judiciary to be kept out of Lokpal purview.

"The posts of Prime Minister and CJI are highly dignified and should not come under the ambit of the Lokpal Bill," he said.

Ramdev made the statement a day after Anna Hazare and his team said they want the Prime Minister and the judiciary under the purview of the bill.

At the same time, he said that he did not want to go into the controversial issue and involve himself in a public debate on that.

Baba Ramdev, who lent support to Anna Hazare in his campaign against corruption when he went on a fast in Jantar Mantar, however, refused to call off his own fast from June 4 till government conceded all his demands.

Reacting to Baba's comments, Arvind Kejriwal, one of the members of the joint committee on drafting the Lokpal Bill, said they would try to convince him about inclusion of the Prime Minister in the Lokpal ambit.

He said probably the yoga guru may not be aware of the full implications of the issue and they would try to convince him why it was necessary.

Kejriwal said if the Prime Minister was kept out of the Lokpal, then there could be ten departments under him which would straight away come out of the anti-corruption watchdog.

Then other ministers can also ask the bribe-givers to pass on all the bribes to the Prime Minister who enjoys immunity. "If the Prime Minister becomes corrupt then nothing can be done about it," he said.