Indications are that the growing chorus over stronger Lok Pal Bill to fight corruption eventually has the Congress-led UPA government worried. There were clear signals to this effect in the meeting of the Congress Core Group at the residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and other senior congress leaders attended the meeting. Sources say that the Core Group decided to call an all-party meeting on the Lokpal issue, especially to debate the provisions like should the Prime Minister be brought under the ambit of Lokpal or not.

In recent days, the Lokpal issue and the police crackdown on yoga guru Baba Ramdev's camp on the intervening night of June 4-5 have been like an albatross around the government's neck. It had to face a lot of criticism at the hands of the Opposition parties, especially the BJP. But of late, the movement has run into rough weather after an impasse between the two sides over drafting the bill. The activists slammed the government accusing it of turning the Lokpal Bill into a "Jokepal Bill." Mr Hazare has once again threatened to sit on a hunger strike.