Team Anna 'disappointed' after 3rd round of talks

New Delhi, Aug 24: Talks between government and Team Anna Hazare ended in a deadlock on Wednesday 24, Aug night with the two sides failing to resolve the key issues, promting the civil society to declare that they were "back to square one".

Upset at the lack of progress, Anna Hazare''s three representatives -- Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan and Kiran Bedi -- said after another round of talks with government interlocutors headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee that difference between government''s attitude yesterday and today was marked like "day and night".

They were of the view that talks were "back to square one" although the government said another round of discussions will be held tomorrow. .

But Minister Salman Khurshid who was one among the government team told "We cannot undermine the official Lokpal bill that was passed by the Cabinet". There is need for a broad national consensus suggested by all-party meeting and we are working towards that, says Khurshid. Talks moving postively; priority is Anna''s health and to create circumstances so that he breaks his fast, says Khurshid.

We are back to square one, says Team Hazare member Prashant Bhushan after meeting with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. We are quite disappointed with today''s meeting, we will have to started from the scratch, it seems, says Bhushan. "Today we are being told that the parliamentary procedure cannot be short-circuited but some timelines can be adhered to," he said.

"They told us that the Jan Lokpal Bill will not be presented," said Arvind Kejriwal.

PTI