Anna eats demand, ends fast

Alarmed by dwindling support to his demand for the resignation of the four NCP Cabinet members, Anna Hazare today called off his nine-day-ol...

Alarmed by dwindling support to his demand for the resignation of the four NCP Cabinet members, Anna Hazare today called off his nine-day-old fast-unto-death after he received a letter from Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.

‘‘I have received a communication from Shinde accepting my demands in principle, therefore, I am withdrawing my fast-unto-death,’’ Hazare said. On Saturday, Shinde had urged Hazare to call off his fast, since his major demands had been accepted. While there was no question of dismissing the Cabinet members named by Hazare, his other demands, including a comprehensive legislation on transfers, judicial probe into charges of corruption against the four NCP ministers — Sureshdada Jain, Padamsinh Patil, Nawab Malik and Vijay Kumar Gavit, Right to Information Act and more powers to gram sabhas have already been accepted, Shinde said.

In a move to pacify the veteran social worker, the Democratic Front government on Saturday appointed former Supreme Court judge P.B. Sawant to probe charges of corruption against the errant Cabinet members. Justice Sawant will also probe the largescale irregularities into the Hind Swarajya Trust headed by Hazare. Though Shinde has conceded Hazare’s demands, more shocking is the fact that his support was dwindling. On August 9, when Hazare undertook the fast-unto-death, there were a large number of supporters.

However, there was a sudden decline during the past nine days. A section of his supporters including eminent scientist Vijay Bhatkar and his guru Sakhare Maharaj had even urged Hazare on Saturday to call off the strike in view of the honesty displayed by the Chief Minister.

Meanwhile, Bhatkar said he was not a part of the delegation, which called on the Chief Minister on Friday. ‘‘I didn’t meet the Chief Minister, but Shinde read out to me on phone the decisions taken by his government on Hazare’s demands,’’ he added.