Efforts on to break Tihar logjam

New Delhi, Aug 17 (PTI) Hectic negotiations were on
Wednesday to break the logjam in Tihar jail from where Anna
Hazare has refused to come out despite Indian government
climbing down on issues like the venue and period of protest
over which it had earlier put stiff conditions.
There were reports that agreement was reached between the
two sides on the venue where Hazare could hold his indefinite
fast-- shifted from JP Park to more spacious Ramlila maidan--
but by evening the negotiations were said to be stuck on the
number of days he would be allowed to stage his protest.
Senior Delhi Police officials were in discussions with
team Anna Hazare in Tihar jail till late in the evening and
the civil society activists were said to be insisting on being
allowed to stage his fast for a stronger Lokpal for a longer
period than the seven days that Police was inclined to allow
him.
Highly placed sources said all members of the Hazare team
were agreeable to the seven days limit with a rider that the
situation could be reviewed everyday thereafter but one
activist-- Arvind Kejriwal-- was not agreeable to it.
Another close associate of Hazare, Kiran Bedi, admitted
as much when she told crowds outside the Tihar jail that
negotiations were still on and Hazare was unlikely to come out
anytime soon.
Through Delhi Police, the government is understood to
have conveyed to Hazare's team that Police would no longer
insist on restrictions on the number of people which could
attend the fast and movement of people.