Worried over Baba Ramdev?s indefinite fast from Saturday, the government on Wednesday took the extraordinary step to woo him by deputing finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and three other senior ministers to the airport for talks but he appeared not to relent on his plans. In a bid to prevent a repeat of a situation that evolved when Anna Hazare-led civil society mounted a campaign against corruption in April, Mukherjee accompanied by Kapil Sibal, Pawan Kumar Bansal and Subodh Kant Sahay held talks at the T3 terminal at Delhi airport with Ramdev who arrived by chartered jet from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh.

Baba Ramdev rejected an appeal by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday to call off a ?fast-to-the-death? from Saturday in Delhi until the government agrees to pass the tough anti-corruption Jan Lokpal Bill and set up a task force for repatriating illegal funds held in foreign bank accounts by Indians. A day after stating that the Prime Minister and Chief Justice of India should not be brought under the ambit of the proposed the Jan Lokpal Bill, Ramdev did a volte face saying he did not make such a statement Ramdev told reporters after ending his one-lakh-km Bharat Swabhiman Yatra in Ujjain.

?I did not say that the proposed Lokpal Bill should not cover the Prime Minister and the CJI as their posts are highly dignified,? he said. ?Keeping the PM and CJI out of the Lokpal?s ambit was never my personal opinion,? he said, adding that there were talks in the public that these posts should not come under the ambit of Lokpal bill.

?There will be over one crore people who will fast,? Ramdev told reporters at Delhi?s airport.

The Prime Minister, concerned the guru will galvanise public opinion against the government, hopes Ramdev will be convinced to drop his hunger strike. ?This is not a personal issue. We all agree with Ramdev that corruption is a big problem and that we are committed to tackling it with all the resources at our disposal,? Singh told reporters late on Tuesday.

Ramdev?s fast would be the second by a prominent public figure to force the government to ratify the anti-graft Bill that gives an independent ombudsman police-like powers to prosecute ministers, bureaucrats and judges.

In April, veteran activist Anna Hazare, who is in his 70s, went on a hunger strike over the Bill, triggering anti-graft protests by thousands of people across the country. He ended it five days later, after the government agreed to allow activists to take part in drafting it, and to then introduce it in Parliament?s next session, due to start in July.

While Hazare is widely respected — his campaign has drawn comparisons to Mahatma Gandhi?s protests and hunger strikes that helped end British colonial rule — Ramdev wields significantly more clout and has vowed to launch a political party for the 2014 national elections to challenge Singh?s Congress.

The charismatic swami runs a $40 million-a-year global yoga and health empire and has millions of followers, some 30 million viewers tune into his daily yoga TV show. Ramdev, who does not disclose his age, is also very wealthy and owns a Scottish island. He also claims to cure cancer.

India ranked 78th on Transparency International?s latest corruption index, a worse ranking than Asian rival China. Graft has long been a part of daily life, but the recent scandals ? that have seen ministers jailed and business heavyweights questioned by investigative agencies ? are unprecedented.

Singh has struggled to shake off a series of corruption scandals that have embroiled senior officials, including a $39-billion telecom 2G spectrum allocation scam, the biggest in India?s history. There is widespread public anger over the graft scams, which have also hurt foreign investment and helped delay a series of reforms aimed at opening up Asia?s third-largest economy. Agencies