Ramdev, followers to fast once a week

HYDERABAD: Baba Ramdev and his followers will will fast once a week till the government takes concrete steps on the issue of black money, said G Sridhar Rao, chief coordinator of Bharat Swabhiman Trust in the state. He was addressing a press conference organised by the trust to condemn the police action at Ramlila grounds on June 4.He accused the police of having stolen the footage of the crackdown from the CCTVs installed at the grounds. He even accused the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi or nonchalance.“How can Sonia Gandhi, being a woman and the chairperson of UPA, not condemn such a barbaric act against women, children and the elderly? The government has not even apologised for the crime,” he said.Voicing the yoga guru’s take on inclusion of the Prime Ministerial post under purview of Lokpal Bill, Rao said it was open to debate for the civil society. He said that the organization wanted direct elections for the post of Prime Minister.“Since the candidate for the Prime Ministerial position is selected by political parties, the individual has the party’s priorities in mind rather than the welfare of people.” Rao also defended Ramdev’s statement on raising an army of supporters by saying that it referred to training the supporters in self-defence and not arming them with weapons.He added that the supporters of Ramdev wanted the government to approve their three-point agenda - return of black money, drafting of a strong Lokpal bill and providing incentives to indigenous practices.