Team Anna, govt hold another round of talks on Lokpal issue

Carrying forward their dialogue, government and Team Anna today held another round of discussions to sort of sticky issues even as government said that ending of fast assumed greater urgency than passage of the bill. Aruna Roy meets Hazare

Carrying forward their dialogue, government and Team Anna on Wednesday held another round of discussions to sort of sticky issues even as government insisted that ending of fast by the Gandhian assumed greater urgency than passage of Lokpal Bill.

Law minister Salman Khurshid met Hazare's associates Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan and Kiran Bedi at his residence to resolve differences which persisted after last night's deliberations between the civil society activists and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit, who is believed to be negotiating through back-channel, was also present at the meeting.

Prior to the meeting, Khurshid told reporters that passage of the Lokpal Bill could take more than 20 days but the fast could not go on till then.

"The urgency of the fast to come to an end is far greater and far serious," he said.