Kiran Bedi, an aide to Mr. Hazare and former senior Delhi police officer, said via Twitter that Mr. Hazare had accepted the police offer to begin his fast at Ramlila Grounds in Delhi for 15 days after police removed "unacceptable conditions" that she didn't specify in her post.
Rajan Bhagat, spokesman for the Delhi police, said the police had earlier put a total of 20 conditions to allow Mr. Hazare to fast at a public park in Delhi where he was supposed to start his hunger strike on Tuesday. Mr. Hazare and his team agreed on 14 conditions and there were disagreements on other police demands like the number of protesters at the site to not exceed 5,000, fast to not continue beyond 3 days and number of cars at the parking area of the park not exceed 50, Mr. Bhagat said Thursday morning.
As a part of the compromise reached between Mr. Hazare and the police early Thursday, Mr. Hazare will now sit on fast at the city's Ramlila Grounds for up to 15 days with police relaxing the restriction of the number of protesters and vehicles at the new protest site to as much as the place can hold, according to Mr. Bhagat. Mr. Hazare and team have also agreed to allow a team of one private doctor and one government doctor to regularly inspect Mr. Hazare's health when he is on fast. They have also agreed to not use loudspeakers at the proposed new protest site between 10 in the night to 6 in the morning, Mr. Bhagat added.
On Wednesday, people at the India Gate monument near Parliament surrounded a battery of television news trucks, chanting "Anna, we're with you!" and "Long Live Anna!" in Hindi as they held candles and waved Indian flags and banners. Television footage showed smaller crowds in other cities including Bangalore and Chennai.
Hazare Supporters Rally
Mr. Hazare remained in New Delhi's Tihar Jail, which also houses several politicians arrested in recent months in connection with corruption scandals that have rocked the government and helped fuel support for the activist's campaign.
Mr. Hazare has been a sharp thorn in the government's side. Officials have acknowledged the government was caught off guard by his original fast in April, which tapped into growing discontent, especially among India's middle class.
Following the April hunger strike, the Congress party-led government formed a joint committee of five civil-society representatives and five senior ministers to draft legislation to set up an anticorruption ombudsman, known as the Lokpal Bill. But there were disagreements over the scope of the bill, as it didn't bring all government officials under its jurisdiction. Mr. Hazare and his supporters wanted all government officials, including the prime minister, to be covered by the Lokpal Bill. They later burned copies of the draft legislation in protest.
With Mr. Hazare and colleagues included on the drafting panel for the ombudsman bill, the government had a chance to position itself as working with civil society, but
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