All political parties urge Hazare to end fast

NEW DELHI: With the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government failing to muster support from political parties over the Lokpal Bill and the health of anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare a concern as the hunger strike entered tenth day, the political crisis over the issue continued to escalate. Both sides seemed to harden their positions amid criticism of the government from within its own ranks. Two separate meetings were held between the campaigners and the government-one with law minister Salman Khursheed and the other with both Khursheed and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee late on Wednesday. With no breakthrough emerging, Khursheed said discussions would continue on Thursday. All parties meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier in the evening to evolve a consensus to end the public stand-off with Hazare and his campaign decided to give the Jan Lokpal Bill, proposed by the anti-graft campaigners, "due consideration so that the final draft of the (government's) Lokpal Bill provides for a strong and effective Lokpal which is supported by a broad national consensus". All parties unanimously requested Hazare to end his hunger strike. However, the government did not accept opposition demands for withdrawal of the current Bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha earlier this month. The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said it was unhappy with the rejection of its demand.