Govt backs off, Anna agrees to fast for 15 days

New Delhi: In a late night breakthrough in the deadlock between Anna Hazare and Delhi police, the anti-corruption crusader accepted the offer for 15 days of hunger strike beginning from Thursday at the Ramlila Maidan.

Kiran Bedi through micro blogging site Twitter informed that Anna Hazare has accepted Delhi Police's proposal.

"Anna has accepted the DP permission for two weeks. Anna now shall be at the Ramlila grd post 3 pm," Kiran Bedi twitted.

Earlier reports said that the government is likely to agree for a three-week fast. However, government sources said that they will not agree for 21-day fast.

Meanwhile, Anna Hazare will spend another night inside the Tihar Jail premises, as Anna's doctors checked him at the jail and said that he was fine.

Anna refused to come out even after Delhi Police moving away from of its earlier stand of setting the cap on number of people, said that the number of people should correspondent to the capacity of the Ramlila Maidan, which can hold approximately 25,000 people. Hazare and his supporters will have to renew permission from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to extend his fast.

Similarly the Delhi Police has also agreed to allow parking of vehicles till the parking is full rather than limiting the number of cars and two-wheelers to be parked.

The police have also allowed one Team Anna doctor along with one government doctor at the site.

However, the Delhi Police has said that the use of loud speakers will be allowed as per the Supreme Court guidelines.

Kiran Bedi and other Team Anna members were also inside the Tihar Jail at the time of discussion.

"Delhi Police want dharna to end as soon as fast ends, but we want dharna to continue. Team Anna is discussing this issue with police," said Kiran Bedi.

Informing that "Anna will take time to come out," she said, "There are differences between us and the Government on the number of days of fast to be carried out. We have asked for 30 days, but they have only permitted for seven days so far."

"We are still contemplating about Ramlila Maidan as JP Park is not adequate for the fast to be carried out. Talks with the Government are still going on," she informed.

Earlier, Hazare supporter Manish Sisodia had said that the Government has agreed to allow the use of Ramlila Maidan for the fast for seven days. But Hazare was adamant on continuing his protest for as long as he wants to and was insisting on his unconditional release.

"Anna wants a written approval for the venue. We want a new venue. Ramlila Maidan is the venue which the Government has agreed to. The discussions are on and we want it for one month. Anna will continue his fast," said Sisodia.

The restrictions on the crowd and vehicles are likely to be removed since Ramlila Maidan is a much larger ground.

DCP Crime Ashok Chand was believed to be negotiating with Team Anna inside the Tihar Jail.

Top aides of Anna Hazare - Kiran Bedi, Medha Patkar, Swami Agnivesh, Prashant Bhushan, Manish Sisodia and Akhil Gogoi - are with him inside Tihar Jail.

Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar was also a part of the negotiation process underway inside the Tihar Jail. Yoga guru Baba Ramdev was denied permission to enter the jail premises to meet Anna Hazare.

Earlier, sources told CNN-IBN that the government was engaging in back channel talks with Team Anna. The Congress core group met on Wednesday morning over the Anna issue. The Prime Minister, AK Antony, P Chidambaram, Pranab Mukherjee and Ahmed Patel attended the meeting.

"We will find a way out of this impasse," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is believed to have said. The Prime Minister also made a statement in Parliament on Wednesday on the crackdown on Team Anna on Tuesday.