Agencies/New Delhi

Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare and yoga guru Baba Ramdev gesture towards their supporters during their hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi yesterday
Anti-graft activist Anna Hazare and yoga guru Baba Ramdev held a symbolic one-day fast yesterday, demanding the government do more to tackle corruption.
Some 5,000 supporters turned out to witness the first joint protest by the two men who have attracted large followings in recent months due to their criticisms of the government.
Hazare’s 12-day hunger strike last year sparked Indians to unleash an outpouring of frustration over bribes paid for transactions ranging from getting a birth certificate to tenders for infrastructure projects.
Ramdev also enjoys the support of thousands of people who revere the eccentric saffron-clad yoga guru.
Their protest came in the wake of fresh allegations last week that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had turned a blind eye to corruption within his government over the allocation of coal deposits.
The government is already struggling to limit damage from the 2G scam in which the then telecoms minister A Raja is accused of handing out second-generation mobile phone licences to select firms at knock-down prices.
Singh has denied the allegations and vowed to resign if any wrongdoing is proved against him.
“The prime minister should not just be honest. He should be politically honest as well,” Ramdev told the crowd in central New Delhi.
“Mr PM you must keep your cabinet ministers honest too,” he said to loud applause from his supporters who braved sweltering heat to attend the demonstration.
The joint appearance by Hazare and Ramdev was marred by open differences cropping up between Hazare’s aides and the yoga guru.
Senior aide Arvind Kejriwal walked out of the event after Ramdev snubbed him for taking names of specific politicians for their alleged involvement in corruption.
Later, Ramdev tried to paper over differences, saying there could be two ways of putting the same point across. At the end of the day-long fast, Ramdev asserted that they would return again on August 9 to launch a larger movement against corruption.
Hazare, a 74-year-old former army truck driver who has modelled his image on Mahatma Gandhi, sat cross-legged on a huge dais, listening to speeches from fellow activists.
Ramdev also reiterated the demand that the government bring back black money stashed in foreign banks. He said the prime minister was honest, but targeted him for inaction over widespread corruption in his government.
Kejriwal took the attack a notch further, saying that the parliament would never pass the anti-corruption Lokpal bill as long as “MPs like Lalu Prasad, A Raja and Suresh Kalmadi were present.”
Kejriwal also made a direct attack on the prime minister saying the coal block allocations were made to “underwear makers, cassette makers, gutka (tobacco makers)” when the prime minister was looking after the ministry between 2006 and 2009.
This direct attack prompted Ramdev to snub Kejriwal for naming specific politicians.
“...Today, we thought that we will not take anybody’s name. But Arvind took the names,” Ramdev said after Kejriwal finished his speech, adding that it would attract “unnecessary controversy.”
Kejriwal left the venue soon after being snubbed. He, however, tweeted later that he left because he was not well.
The show at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar seemed more like a Ramdev show. ‘Anna caps’ were missing, as were reverberations of Anna Hazare slogans. An array of life-size posters of Ramdev could be seen at the venue.