Congress Core Group to meet, discuss Baba Ramdev's agitation

NEW DELHI: Congress top brass, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi, are expected to deliberate on Thursday on the situation arising out of yoga guru Baba Ramdev's plans to go on a hunger strike on the issue of black money in New Delhi from June 4.

A meeting of the Congress Core Group headed by Gandhi is scheduled on Thursday evening in the backdrop of apparent differences between the party and the government over the way the issue needed to be tackled.

The Core Group, which generally meets on Friday, is meeting a day ahead, reflecting the concern in the party and the government over Ramdev's plans.

Top Congress leaders and senior ministers, including Pranab Mukherjee, AK Antony, P Chidambaram and political secertary to Congress chief Ahmed Patel are part of the group which decides on major policy issues.

A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs was held a few days back to discuss Ramdev's fast and Manmohan Singh had also written a letter to the yoga guru asking him not to go ahead with the fast, promising him to find a "practical and pragmatic" solution to tackle the issue of corruption.

Congress has distanced itself from the government's unprecedented step of sending four senior ministers to receive Baba Ramdev at the airport in a bid to persuade him not to go ahead with the protest saying it was "unnecessary" and the party has "nothing to do" with it.

"The party is not at all related to this entire exercise from here to the airport( ministers going to the airport to receive the Yoga Guru)," top sources in Congress has said.